TOBY Radford is the Welshman who was employed by Cricket West Indies some years ago as the coach responsible for supervising the WI Cricket Academy in Barbados. Afterwards, he was made the batting coach of the WI team. He returned to England in 2019 when the new administration of WI cricket, under president Ricky Skerritt, changed the coaching set-up.
Radford has made some serious comments about the fitness of the present WI players and, for what it’s worth, I cannot agree with him more. His bold, positive statements pulled no punches. One of his most potent remarks was “Everybody has got to be treated the same way, tested the same way and whatever the results are, the decision that’s made for A has to be the decision made for B, C, D, E, F and G as well.”
Radford suggests, “At the moment it’s being used however they want to select.”
Then he added, “For testing to be fair, everybody should be in the same place on the same day doing the same test, and you can all see them doing it.
THE YEAR 2021 was once again dominated by the novel coronavirus, which impacted the world of sports, and cricket was no exception, with the phrases bio-secure bubble, isolation, and quarantine heard constantly as teams tried feverishly to fulfil their packed and hectic International Cricket Council tour schedule.
The West Indies Test side started the year brightly with a 2-0 series win over Bangladesh in that country in February, and many felt that the year would be a turning point for the region in the game’s long format.
But not for the first time when talking about West Indies cricket, success did not breed success. A 0-0 drawn series at home against Sri Lanka in March was followed by a demoralising 2-0 series loss, again in the Caribbean, to South Africa in June. Then there was a one-all draw with Pakistan in a keenly contested series in August.
Former West Indies batting coach Toby Radford has had his say on the latest happenings in West Indies Cricket. The Welshman was speaking on the Mason & Guest show which aired on the 28th of December.
Radford was also skeptical that the removal of former Chairman of Selectors, Roger Harper, would bring significant change.
“When you fire a selector, is it only the selector, or does he become a bit of a scapegoat for other issues? It’s an easy one to just fire a selector and say, ‘oh the selection was wrong,’ but I think it’s deeper than that. There would have been other people involved in selection, not just the selector who’s gone. There would have been other people involved in the selection [process], as I understand it; and they are still there. It’s been nice and easy to get rid of one and make it look like it’s a clean brush.”
Cricket West Indies (CWI) president, Ricky Skerritt, insists the organization will find some appropriate way to honour legendary batsman Chris Gayle after the player was left out of the team's T20 squad for Ireland and England.
Shortly after the team’s unceremonious exit from the World Cup, the hard-hitting left-hander had let on that the reason that he had not announced his retirement at the World Cup was that plans were already underway for a final farewell match.
"We're not defining what such a game (farewell) will look like. The planning has not yet commenced," Skerritt told Cricbuzz.
West Indies head coach Phil Simmons is expecting more energy and enthusiasm from a new-look squad as the team bowls off the year with series against Ireland and England.
The Caribbean team has endured a disappointing few months on the back of a disastrous showing at the T20 World Cup, followed by defeats in Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
“The way we started in Pakistan is the way we want to play now, have a lot more energy, more enthusiasm,” Simmons told members of the media earlier this week.
