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Former West Indies and Trinidad and Tobago fast bowler, Anthony ‘Tony’ Gray insists that while West Indies Head Coach, Phil Simmons, and white-ball captain, Kieron Pollard’s outputs should be assessed, they do not have the necessary tools at their disposal to lead the West Indies to success in International cricket.  

“CWI must review the performance levels of Phil Simmons and also Kieron Pollard,” Gray said.

“[But] Pollard doesn’t have the tools to work with; he has a lot of young players, inexperienced players, coming into the one-day game.”

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In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

Iv been getting tired of this excuse, yes there is inexperience but its mainly in the bowling department


The core of the batting is not, shai has 86 matches, pooran on the low end with 34, pollard and holder over 100, greaves is a place holder for lewis, brooks has done decent so his inexperience hasnt had an effect, chase has other experience in international cricket

Pollards batting is abysmal, and shows he has no range to his game, over a 100 matches, captain of the team yet still a specialist pinch hitter, he is part of the problem

The bowlers getting more experience wont help the batting

In reply to conman

So apparently other captains had the tools to work with. As soon as its one of dere own de excuses start coming out.

De captain and coach got de team dey wanted for the WC wid plenty experience

In reply to Maispwi

Oft repeated but not backed up officially

The problem is our structure or lack thereof. Also, we have no world class players in our team. I still believe that Hope, Brooks. Hosein, Joseph, Lewis, Seales and McCoy are talented players just to name a few. Pooran and Hetmyer just arem't consistent enough. We have players that are young enough to improve but they need the right coaches to get the best out of them. For starters, we need to change our batting coach.

In reply to Windiesfan78

You dont learn to bat at the international level, no batting coach can fix that

In reply to conman

To the point..drop the mic and say nothing more

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com
Gray is right. We West Indians are often obsesses with the idea that firing someone, solves the problems!!! What, utter stupidity. Just another distraction, intended to pacify the gullible.

In reply to Norm

What you are admitting is that the succession planning is Abysmal.

Which then points right back to them...

Everything starts at the head

Captain is not the problem, there are far too many batsmen failing in the same inning.

In reply to conman

Actually a batting coach can. This is the reason why the team continues to fail. You deal with the problem, not sit idly by. These jokers don't know how to move their feet and get to the pitch of the ball, hence the reason why the strike isn't rotated properly. A proper batting coach who we can't afford would demand the best from the players.

In reply to Windiesfan78

You under the impression that a batting coach is a magician. In practice i guarantee these guys are doing everything correct, getting to the pitch, using feet, rotating strike, etc (phil even eluded to this) but when its game time it doesnt work out, these skills arent built by a coach, its built by repetition and consistency at the lower levels

In reply to conman
I understand where you are coming from. The problem is the players are also failing at the regional level. For example, can anyone tell me why Greaves was picked as an opening batsman with a FC average of less than 30 at 27 years of age? That is the sort of mediocrity we have come to accept in the Caribbean. The nets and match practise are two totally different spheres of the game. Why is it that other teams are doing well why we continue to fail? It is about solving the problem and not making excuses. I say get a proper batting coach and we will see a difference. Stick with the current setup and we will continue to slide down the table.

In reply to conman
that's it in a nutshell..
the batting approach is the same as the T20 ... except for not swipping in the powerplay ... block to the end then swipe

Kensington Oval is his last go-around. Tek that from me.

..another case of Trinies sticking together ... Simmons is a disaster, Pollard just a franchise bully .. Adams is as blind as his batting.. block & hope ...

In reply to Blackbird
I don’t think it’s about Trinis or Bajans. The truth is only Trinidad and Barbados producing half cricketers these days. Jamaica, Guyana, Antigua, Leewards and Windwards are not producing anything for us. So I don’t know why you guys keep attacking the two islands that are producing. Imagine Ireland played three ODI’s in Jamaica and the only Jamaican on the team was Odean Smith. That’s how low our cricket is. So I agree with Gray that dropping Pollard would definitely not make us a better team even if Pollard had two poor last games.

In reply to Sylobaby
Now Phil Simmons, the sole selector and head coach should be forced to tell us why Rovman Powell and or Blackwood were not selected ahead of Greaves especially with the games being played in Jamaica. Yes Powell has been very disappointing with an ODI ave of 25 but he sure is one of our best ODI players in the West Indies today. Make it worse, in a practice match between the Ireland and a Jamaica eleven just a couple of days before the ODI series, Rovman Powell had a very good 85 not out against Ireland. Why was he not picked? Simmons should be forced to answer

We all see the main problem as being the batting but when one considers that these batsmen are not even superstars at the regional who cannot make in internationally but pretty unimpressive at the regional level as well, it means that coaching is needed at the regional, rather than at the international level for them to get the basics right. So firing Monty or whoever would not make a difference if at the lower level these players are not being assisted. I say the buck really stops with the regional coaches.

In reply to powen001

I think Tony Gray's comment was about the general state of WI cricket, and not specifically about the WI cricket team captaincy or coach. Unfortunately even our former outstanding cricketers get sidetrack by insularity these days, with hardly a player being able to provide unbiased opinions about any facet of WI cricket. We can only hope that we could collectively muster the courage to be honest about what ails our cricket.

In reply to VoopsandOut

This is an excellent point. A friend of mine that used to play local cricket called our players regional bullies. That was years ago. Now we don't even have that. Also, COVID has made matters worse. When last have we played the regional 4 day competition? Slapping together a team at the last minute doesn't breed success. This is one of the reasons for the rot in our cricket.

If you cannot beat Ireland, then heads should roll...but it's typical west indies thinking, stick with losers