BCA chief Riley lashes out at CWI over Pybus, Browne axing

Wed, Apr 17, '19

ST JOHN'S, Antigua (CMC) – Outspoken Cricket West Indies (CWI) director Conde Riley has slammed the regional governing body's decision to axe the entire coaching staff of the men's senior side ahead of the World Cup, and has warned that the sweeping personnel changes announced last week could “destabilise the whole process” heading into the ICC showpiece next month.

In a controversial radio interview here which revealed fractures within the CWI directorate, Riley said while new CWI president Ricky Skerritt was free to implement changes, he was not in support of making them so close to a major tournament and especially after West Indies' outstanding results against England in the recent home series.

CWI last week removed interim head coach Richard Pybus and his support staff of Vasbert Drakes, Toby Radford and Esuan Crandon. Former West Indies batsman Floyd Reifer was named to replace Pybus, while Roddy Estwick, Corey Collymore and Rayon Griffith will serve as assistant coaches.

“It is not about the termination of Vasbert Drakes so much, but more importantly where the team is at this time having reclaimed the Wisden Trophy. England are number one in ODI cricket and we tied with them,” Riley told Observer Radio here in a telephone interview.

“My own feelings are that the timing is off. I felt we should have gone off to the World Cup [without changing the coaches]. I think the players were in a good space, Mr Pybus's appointment was interim… we had put a succession planning system in place where we interviewed nine regional coaches and short-listed five and those were the people that we would look to to take the team forward,” charged Riley.

read more at Jamaica Observer