Cricket West Indies have appointed Richard Pybus as their interim head coach until the series against India at home later this year, it was announced on Friday (January 4). Pybus replaces Nic Pothas who was acting as the head coach after the departure of Stuart Law, who took up a role with Middlesex.
Pybus, who has worked as coach of Pakistan and Bangladesh before, is currently the high-performance director for the Windies team. “I am really looking forward to working with Jason and the Test and ODI teams, as well as Carlos and the T20I team, as we continue to build WINDIES cricket,” he said about his appointment.
“We’ve got a great home series against England coming up. England are a high-quality side who will be an excellent test of the team in our home conditions. We then have an ODI Triangular Series against Ireland and Bangladesh in Dublin. Ireland will be looking to make a statement after missing out on CWC qualification and Bangladesh have beaten us home and away in our recent ODI series. The CWC is on the region’s mind and we will be looking to use the England Series and Ireland Triangular to build into that.”
Jimmy Adam, the director of cricket, felt the fact that Pybus has already been working with Cricket West Indies will help in the role of the head coach. “Richard comes into the role with previous international experience having worked with both Pakistan and Bangladesh. Due to his current and previous involvement in CWI, he possesses a good working knowledge of both players and coaches as the team prepares for important home series against England and India with the 2019 World Cup to be played between those series,” he stressed.
Pybus worked with Pakistan in 1999 and 2003 and also with Middlesex in 2007. He worked with Bangladesh in 2012 for five months and then took up the role of the Windies High Performance Director in 2013. After a three-year stint he took a break from the role but returned in February last year to the same position again.
Windies play England later this month in three Tests, five ODIs and three T20Is before playing a tri-series in Ireland and the Cricket World Cup. They then host India in July and August for two Tests.
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