WICB: No Bowling Coach for England

The West Indies touring squad to England will not have the services of a specialist bowling coach.

Despite a public plea from the team's youngest fast bowler for a bowling coach to be hired for the upcoming England tour, WICB chief executive Roger Brathwaite said head coach Gus Logie had not made a request for an assistant.

"There is no bowling coach attached to the team going to England. We have had no specific request coming through from the coach in that area," Brathwaite told Barbados Nation cricket writer Tony Cozier.

"The coach is in charge of the team, so certainly based on what has happened in the past, he would recommend to us the resources that he needs. We've had no such request," Braithwaite said.

Brathwaite's comments follow a call by 19-year old Ravi Rampaul for a fulltime bowling coach to help with the inexperienced bowling attack. "I would like to see a fulltime bowling coach indeed because, in Zimbabwe and South Africa, Kenny Benjamin was there and he helped me a whole lot. With the young fast bowlers coming up I am sure it would be a good investment to have with the team for him to assist the young fast bowlers," Rampaul said in response to a question from CaribbeanCricket.com.

"Kenny worked with the bowlers on our line and length, he shared his experience with us and he gave us information about injuries related to fast bowling."

According to Rampaul, it is near impossible for head coach Gus Logie to give full attention to the batsmen and bowlers in the West Indies squad. "The bowling coach would basically work with the bowlers only and the head coach would work with the batsmen and on fielding so that the bowlers would have the special attention of someone who knows more about bowling."

Rampaul said it was "somewhat hard" for the bowlers to be without a bowling coach. "It is hard because when you want to go to the nets to work on a specific thing you cannot because you only have one coach and it will be hard for him with the 12 other guys also needing attention."

There are times, Rampaul said, when Logie has been unavailable, forcing the bowlers to make the most out of the situation. "I wait until the coach has some time or basically I would just go and work with a batsman in the nets...I think we should have a specialist bowling coach but right now we do not and we have to work with what we have."

According to Cozier, the WICB's stance seems to contradict with Logie's recent comments that it was "certainly a help to be out there and getting assistance from individuals."

"I think the players appreciate this and I do as well...I think it is something we have to look forward to in the future for we do need help out there as much as possible," Logie said during the recent home series against England.