Walsh planning to ‘re-energise’ Windies Women team

For the first time since his appointment, new West Indies women’s coach Courtney Walsh faced the regional and international media in a press conference yesterday. The legendary fast bowler is optimistic about the task that lies ahead.

Walsh, 57 years old, has finally got his wish since returning to the Caribbean from international coaching duties with the Bangladesh national team, and that is to get his mandate as a regional coach.

Walsh has held several assistant and bowling coach roles from the youth level to franchise and international level. However, he will be the man at the helm to guide the senior women’s programme for the next couple of years.

A huge task lies ahead for the Jamaican, who acquires a West Indies women’s team that is lacking in confidence after a 5-0 Twenty20 series whitewash in England recently.

When asked about his immediate plans for the team, Walsh, who assisted Gus Logie with the women’s team against India last year and at the T20 World Cup in Australia recently, was quick to say that there won’t be a total revamp of the programme.

“My whole idea and plan are to refocus, re-energise and try to recreate,” he said. “I also want to spot new talent as well.

“Unfortunately, we are not playing as much cricket in the region as we would like, but we have to look at what we have and get that sparkle back. In the end, I would like to see us smiling again and playing the West Indian brand of cricket we know we can play.”

HOLISTIC APPROACH

Right off the bat, Walsh is aiming to get that holistic approach to team cricket back on track, which he believes is not far off with this current crop of players.

“I think we have a good solid base of players and, obviously, we have to perform,” he said. “Those teams or those players that perform consistently, get reasonably good results, and that’s what we have to get back to. When we were doing well and winning competitions and getting to semi-finals, it wasn’t just one person, the team was performing. Yes, one individual might lead the charge but they were getting good support from the others, so that’s something we have to ensure we get back on track with.

With the corona-virus pandemic creating problems in global cricket, Walsh says he will be sitting with Director of Cricket at Cricket West Indies, Jimmy Adams, to chart a way forward in the immediate future.

“From my standpoint, I would want to know how soon the ladies can start to get into a camp where we can start to get in some work, as well as know when is our next tour,” he said. “Those are the issues we have to try and address whenever we get clearance.”