Where's Darren Holder?
Wed, Jan 26, '05
Last April, when the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) hired Darren Holder to be its first Coaching Manager, we were told that the hotshot Aussie would be setting up systems to make our coaches better.
At the time of his appointment, WICB CEO Roger Brathwaite made it clear that Holder's role "will be critical to the development of the game and the young players in particular in the West Indies."
The Coaching Manager, at the time a newly created position, was supposed to manage and deliver the WICB's Coach Education Programme, organise and deliver specialist coaching programmes, oversee the Shell Academy's Cricket Programme and coordinate an Emerging Players' Programme.
Knowing all the problems at the lower levels, Holder's hiring was music for sore ears. He would, we all assumed, introduce Caribbean coaches to the modern techniques being used in the developed world. More importantly, Holder would scout the young talent and help identify the potential stars of the future.
Nine months later, with the arrival of his Queensland buddy Bennett King, Holder has suddenly ignored all his primary responsibilities in the Caribbean. He blew off a request from the Antigua Cricket Association (ACA) to conduct a Level One coaching course and instead joined the West Indies training camp in Barbados, supposedly as a fast bowling coach.
Pace bowling giants like Andy Roberts, Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose, Joel Garner, Wayne Daniel were all available to Bennett King but, inexplicably, Darren Holder was summoned to Barbados, at the expense of his Coaching Manager responsibilities.
If that was the end of it, maybe we would have just rolled our eyes and chalk it up to Bennett King needing a comfort zone for his first camp.
But, it didn't end there. Just before the team left for Australia, Darren Holder told CMC Sports that Coach King wanted him "involved with the programme" and it was only a matter of tying up the loose ends before he joins the coaching staff.
His statement caused a stir in the Caribbean because it meant he would not be around for the bulk of the regional first class competition where, as Coaching Manager, he would have the perfect opportunity to liaise with the local coaches and impart his great "technical and technological skills" (those are Roger Brathwaite's words, mind you).
When WICB senior staff objected to Holder joining the senior team, the coaching manager decided to use up his vacation time and travelled to Australia nonetheless.
His approved vacation ended on January 7th but he never returned. Instead, he was part of Bennett King's staff, even though his name was noticeably absent from all WICB press releases on the make-up of the squad/staff.
On January 11th, I asked WICB communications manager Leonard Robertson to clarify Holder's status. Here's his reply: "hi ryan, darren holder is due back to work on 17 january.
I asked if Holder was now officially on Bennett King's staff and here's Robertson again: hi ryan, no he's not part of the coaching staff for the vb series in australia.
January 17th came and went and Holder was a no-show at Factory Road. On January 19th, I saw Holder on the television screen in the match against Pakistan. He was sitting in the West Indies camp, in Digicel-branded uniform, suggesting he was clearly part of the set-up in Australia.
I pointed this out to Robertson the next morning but he never responded to my query. I then asked team liaison officer Imran Khan to explain Holder's presence with the team.
Here's Khan's response: Hi Ryan, Darren left Australia yesterday (Jan 19th) and is on his way back to the Caribbean at the moment.
It's January 26th and Holder is still not back. I asked both Robertson and Khan for updates of Holder's whereabouts. Robertson, again, did not answer. Khan said he had forwarded my query to Robertson.
I called the WICB office in Antigua and asked for Holder. I was told he was due back at work on January 27th. Right.
Meanwhile, three rounds of the regional first class competition have been completed. The quality of the cricket has been an embarrassment and the coaching manager, a man who is tasked with improving the bases, is nowhere to be found.
West Indies fans deserve to know why.