Removing Walsh a backward step, says Perreira

VETERAN regional cricket analyst Joseph ‘Reds’ Perreira is questioning the rationale behind the removal of West Indies Women’s head coach Courtney Walsh.

Walsh, who was named head coach of the team back in October 2020, was told recently by his employers, Cricket West Indies, that his contract would not be renewed, which Perreira believes is rather bizarre as the former fast bowler had laid a solid foundation which had started to look promising.

“Well, I was in fact surprised when I learned that coach Walsh was not retained, not only that he wasn’t retained, but neither (assistant coaches) Corey Collymore nor Robert Samuels were retained. It seemed to be a huge move all at one time. So, all the information on the players and all the knowledge of the players who were coming on and were doing well, along with those earmarked for some special work have now gone through the heavens as he had started to mould a young team for the future,” Perreira stated.

Walsh, who was in his third year as head coach of the team, had a record of 11 wins, 11 defeats and two tied matches from 32 One Day Internationals, while in the T20 format the record was seven wins, 15 defeats and one tied result from 24 matches. Perreira believes the way in which the matter was handled is far from ideal, especially dealing with someone of the calibre of Walsh.

“I also have an issue in the way in which it was done, an outstanding player like Courtney Walsh shouldn’t be getting a telephone call to say you are not being retained. One would have thought that the CEO, who was in Antigua, along with Walsh, would have at least granted him the courtesy of a meeting so that he would have been properly told, not by a telephone call which doesn’t normally last very long.

“And it (telephone call) doesn’t give you the chance to really say anything. It reminded me on how Jason Holder lost the West Indies Test captaincy and this really shouldn’t be happening in this day and age of communication,” Perreira said.

The experienced cricket analyst also believes the gaping hole left by Barbadian Deandra Dottin in the team should have weighed-in more in the decision to remove Walsh as with her gone and without Stafanie Taylor, the team isn’t good enough.

“Anyone coming in to replace Walsh, I don’t believe they’ll be any more successful. This is a backward step. We are not playing enough women’s cricket in the region. Without (Deandra) Dottin and (Stefanie) Taylor the rest of our players aren’t good enough when we match ourselves against the likes of Australia, England, India and New Zealand and you can’t make bread out of stone. We also need more cricket for the present squad because we are not getting enough women playing the game of cricket. I believe all cricket clubs should have a women’s cricket section,” Perreira stated.

Orane.Buchanan@gleanerjm.com