Trinidad & Tobago Newsday article.
Port of Spain, Trinidad - Richard Pybus, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Director of Cricket, is anticipating the challenges his job will face, within the foreseeable future.
The 49-year-old Englishman was speaking during a February 17 interview at a WICB media conference, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Port of Spain.
Pybus, who got the WICB appointment in October, said, “my first few months have been primarily looking and seeing what is producing and understanding how it works.
“It’s been exciting,” he continued. “We’ve got some great challenges coming up which I’m looking forward to getting stuck into.”
Concerning the challenges, Pybus stated, “the key things are we can’t separate our amateur cricket from our professional cricket. I’ve done a review and a report for the Board with regards from the national team down to the entry level Kiddies Cricket program. We’re doing a bit of a health-check on the system.
“My main priorities for the moment are going to be working with the national coaching staff, getting us as focussed and on-line as possible,” he added. “Also, I’m hoping that the Board approves the plan for the professionalisation of cricket. We’ll like to sign off on that at the March Board meeting and then get busy with it.
“It’s going to be a case of logistically working with the territorial boards, getting those plans in place and also seeking sponsorship to be able to roll out the programme.”
The Regional Four Day Tournament is expected to bowl off this weekend, while the West Indies will be defending the ICC T20 World Cup in Bangladesh next month.
With regards to how he can manage dealing with both competitions, Pybus noted, “I’ll be hoping to watch as much of the Four Day Tournament as possible to get a sense of where the Four Day game is at. The World Cup, I’ll be picking up the broadcast and hopefully paying close attention to the cricket out there.”
He continued, “there is a clear mandate for the national set-up, they know what they got to do, they’re clear on what their goals are. My role is hands-off with the national set-up. It really is about challenging and supporting the system.”
Having coached Pakistan and Bangladesh, as well as teams in South Africa and the Indian Premier League (IPL), Pybus was asked if he is willing to pass on his coaching knowledge to the regional crop.
He replied, “I think at the national level we’re fine. Ottis (Gibson) is highly experienced. He’s coached internationally for quite a long time now and he worked in England for quite a period of time.
“To make sure we’ve got very clear goals and actions in place, we’re doing that, monitoring and evaluating that.”
Pybus will be based at the WICB office in St John’s, Antigua.
He noted, “I’ve done a bit of travel already, that will continue. I want to get out to all the regions, meet stakeholders, meet specifically with the coaching staff and operational staff, watch the players play, check the CEOs, find out what are the key challenges they are facing, and watching as much cricket as possible.”