Windies future still bright – Reifer

CHESTER-LE-STREET, England (CMC):

While the Windies did not live up to expectations at the ICC World Cup, head coach Floyd Reifer strongly believes that the future of the team is in good hands.

Reifer, a former Windies captain, said an abundance of talent within the region meant that the regional side would be a force to reckon with in the years to come. He pointed to players such Shai Hope, Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, Oshane Thomas and Sheldon Cottrell as cricketers with much potential.

“The future of our cricket is good. You know, we have a lot of young guys here. Hope, Pooran, Hetmyer, Oshane Thomas. We have young John Campbell, he was injured from early, so our future is good. I’m confident in these youngsters that going forward, we can bring West Indies cricket back to where it belongs at the top.

“Yes, it is unfortunate we didn’t get to the final four in this competition, but going forward, I’m happy from what I have seen. Sheldon Cottrell had a very good World Cup, so we have a lot of young guys that we can mould and build a strong unit going forward,” Reifer said.

The head coach said what was particularly important now was for those players to be moulded into leaders.

“We have a group of guys that, for us, is to create leaders, and that is something we have got to focus on in the Caribbean, as well as in our franchise and first-class cricket – to create more leaders amongst ourselves,” Reifer pointed out.

“We have a good young group of players. Like I said, Hetmyer, Hope, Sheldon Cottrell, Pooran. Those guys are young players, and we have young guys coming up as well, such as Keemo Paul.

“So we have good talent in the Caribbean in the system. We have to make sure that we nurture that talent very well.

“When we get back to the Caribbean, it’s important that we, you know, put guys in the environment and put them in a tough situation where they have to train and train hard and prepare and prepare well.”