Benjamin Appointed W.I Bowling Coach
Wed, Oct 8, '03
Former West Indies fast bowler Kenny Benjamin has been appointed interim assistant coach for the senior team tours to Zimbabwe and South Africa later this year.
At the request of head coach Gus Logie, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) endorsed the appointment of Benjamin to accompany the senior team on the upcoming tours as part of a specific plan to offer specialist coaching to the young crop of fast bowlers.
"Gus [Logie] wanted to have an assistant coach on tour to work with the young fast bowlers and he requested Kenny Benjamin," a senior WICB source disclosed. Benjamin will work with the interim label while the WICB continues its search for a full time assistant.
WICB chief executive Roger Brathwaite has been directed by the WICB directors to poll team captain Brian Lara and manager Ricky Skerritt to ensure Benjamin's "suitability" for the post, one well-placed source told CaribbeanCricket.com. The board is expected to make a formal announcement this weekend.
The West Indies will play two Tests and five ODIs in Zimbabwe between October and November and four Tests and give ODIs in South Africa immediately after.
The 36-year-old Benjamin, an accredited Level 2 Coach, picked up 92 wickets in 26 Tests for the West Indies between 1992 and 1998. Before turning to coaching, the Antiguan pacer took 403 first-class wickets in 108 matches split between the Leeward Islands, Worcestershire, West Indies Gauteng and Easterns.
As fast bowling coach, Benjamin will have his hands full. The fast bowlers battling for selection for the tours of Zimbabwe and South Africa include Jerome Taylor, Fidel Edwards, Darren Powell, Corey Collymore and possibly Ravi Rampaul. Combined, those five bowlers have appeared in only 10 Test matches.
The outspoken Benjamin had earlier called for Edwards and Taylor to sit out this year's Red Stripe Bowl and concentrate on getting stronger in preparation for the gruelling away tours.
"If it was up to me, I'd keep them both out of Red Stripe Bowl. I'm looking at the big picture. Taylor and Edwards are not trying to make the West Indies team anymore. They're certainties for the tour of Zimbabwe. Why interrupt their conditioning to play in a one-day tournament? We don't need one-day bowlers. We need to develop bowlers for Test cricket," Benjamin said in an exclusive interview with CaribbeanCricket.com.
"The selectors (in Jamaican and Barbados) should concentrate on providing quality players for West Indies to win. It should be West Indies first, then territory. That's how the entire region should be thinking. You can't sacrifice the future of our fast bowling to win the Red Stripe Bowl," Benjamin argued.
His public calls, however, fell on deaf ears. Both Taylor and Edwards are playing in this year's one-day tournament.