Another foreign coach not a worry - WICB

Bennett King was the first foreign coach, and may not be the last © Getty Images Enlarge

According to Bruce Aanensen, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) chief executive, the crucial factor surrounding the next coach will be ability and not nationality. Bennett King, the first foreign coach of West Indies, recently resigned after their failure to reach the World Cup semi-finals.

"What we want to do is get the best possible coach for the team and it really doesn't matter to us where that coach comes from," Aanensen told the Caribbean Media Corporation. "I think if you look at most of the foreign teams, most of them have coaches that are not local to their establishment. It's the same thing in the football World Cup, I think that all but four of the teams in the last World Cup finals had foreign coaches so to speak.

"So this thing that people have that we must have a local coach, we must have the best possible coach that can take our cricket forward and whether is West Indian, English, Australian, New Zealander as far as I am concerned it doesn't matter."

King succeeded Gus Logie in 2004. It was a controversial decision with many in the region insisting that a local should be put in charge.

The WICB is scheduled to name a new captain on Sunday to take over from Brian Lara who retired from the international game. "A full board meeting is scheduled for Sunday, April 29, in Barbados. At that time the matter will be addressed," said a WICB statement. "The new captain will then join the other selectors on Tuesday, May 1, 2007 to select the other members of the team. The WICB expects that it will be able to release the names of the players on Wednesday May 2, 2007, after the convenor of selectors has notified the players."

Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lara's long-time vice-captain, is expected to be given the job of leading the squad on the tour to England which gets underway in May.