By Neto Baptiste
Newly appointed coach of the West Indies women’s team, Courtney Walsh, is hoping he could host a series of training camps across the region as he seeks to identify both talent and shortfalls within the system.
Speaking in the Good Morning Jojo Sports Show, Walsh, who is the leading wicket-taker for West Indies in Tests with 519 scalps in 132 matches, said the approach must be an all-inclusive one.
“Well, what I would like to do as my first order of business is have a couple of training camps before any competitive cricket, so I could look at what we have and start to put things in place to sort of help us improve … look at some of the areas we need to improve on, and just have an overall genuine look at everyone so I could make a call for myself in terms of this is where I want to go, or this is where I think we ought to go and have discussions with backroom staff and stuff like that to ensure we are all on the same page,” he said.
Walsh takes the reins from former coach Gus Logie, who was appointed as the interim head coach in 2019.
The Jamaican said he will leave no stone unturned in his quest to improve the standard of the game in the region.
“Obviously, I am going to be working on the mindset and what we have to do tactically, what we have to do skill wise; I will be taking nothing for granted. I will be ensuring that everything is being looked at the way we want it to be looked at. Look at the health of everybody from captain to cook as they would say, and just try to do the things overall that we need to improve. We also have to enjoy what we are doing and, as I said earlier, bring back the smiles on every player’s face. We have to set ourselves goals that are achievable and work towards achieving those goals,” Walsh said.
West Indies were winless in a best of five T20 series in England last month.