By Neto Baptiste
Batting legend and former West Indies captain Sir Vivian Richards has labelled a decision by the Leeward Islands Cricket Board (LICB) to overlook the performance of their Leeward Islands Hurricanes team under the tutelage of coach Winston Benjamin as “tough,” adding that the former fast bowler was deserving of an opportunity to continue the work he had started.
“What else can you do as a coach? Because the team had been down, hitting rock bottom for years; and, to me, that’s the resume. For him not to be asked to apply again for that particular job and whatever has been done on the field, and in terms of the position they would have gotten themselves in after the years of failures, to me, that’s his resume. It’s tough, and I will tell you something: we have some strange people around where we live here man,” he said.
Benjamin’s application for a third straight year as coach of the team was overlooked by the board and the Antiguan was replaced by another former West Indies player and former Leeward Islands opening batsman, Stuart Williams.
Sir Viv went on to predict that Williams will not achieve the same success during his two-year tenure.
“I tell you something, there is something really wrong with that same system that brother [Enoch] Lewis was talking about. It is crazy and I think Winston is being given a hard time and for the way I have worked around Stuart Williams. These guys just lobby getting themselves in the best positions, say the nicest things, and people like that. But I just wish Winston the very best because Winston is a soldier, so Winston will move along and what progress they would have made, that is not going to come to no fruition,” the former captain said.
The Leeward Islands Cricket Board announced this week that Williams will hold the post for two years. Williams, who is also the board’s chief selector, will start in his new role on October 1st, but must first step down from the role of selector.