Windies appoint Richard Pybus as interim head coach ahead of World Cup 2019

Cricket West Indies (CWI) has appointed former England first-class cricketer Richard Pybus as its team’s interim head coach till the series against India scheduled later this year. In a decision which was announced on Friday, Pybus replaced Nic Pothas who was acting as the Caribbeans’ head coach following the exit of Stuart Law, a former Australia batsman who took up a new stint with Middlesex. Law served as the Windies coach for less than two years.

Pybus played just one first-class game in his career and took up coaching in his mid-twenties after sustaining injury. He has worked as the coach of Pakistan and Bangladesh earlier. Two-time world champions Windies have a major assignment this year in the form of the ICC World Cup scheduled in May-July.

The Caribbeans, ranked No.9 in ODIs, had to qualify for the tournament in March last year. For Pybus, it will undoubtedly be the biggest priority of the year. “I am really looking forward to working with Jason and the Test and ODI teams, as well as Carlos and the T20I team, as we continue to build Windies cricket,” Pybus was quoted by Cricbuzz as saying about his appointment.

“We’ve got a great home series against England coming up. England are a high-quality side who will be an excellent test of the team in our home conditions. We then have an ODI Triangular Series against Ireland and Bangladesh in Dublin.

“Ireland will be looking to make a statement after missing out on CWC qualification and Bangladesh have beaten us home and away in our recent ODI series. The CWC is on the region’s mind and we will be looking to use the England Series and Ireland Triangular to build into that.”

Pybus’ past experience of working with Windies will help him

Former Windies captain Jimmy Adams who is currently the Windies’ cricket director felt Pybus’ past experience of working with the Caribbean cricket will help his role as the head coach. He said his current and previous involvement in Cricket West Indies gives him a good working knowledge of both the players and coaches as the team prepares for the home series against England and India later this year besides the World Cup which will be played in between.

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