Email Us Forum Mail Article Print Article

Aussie Coach in WICB List

Sunday, February 23 2003

Former Queensland coach Bennett King, who now runs the Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy in Australia, has been included in a shortlist of coaches for the senior West Indies team.

The 39-year-old Australian was approached by someone within the WICB ranks to apply for the post and sources say he "stands a good chance" of landing the job. The other coaches in the shortlist include former West Indies players Gus Logie and Eldine Baptiste.

Incumbent coach Roger Harper has refused to address the question of whether he had reapplied but it is believed he won't seek an extension to his contract, which expires after the World Cup.

Jamaica coach Robert Haynes, Leicestershire consultant Jack Birkenshaw and former England cricketer Roland Butcher all applied for the job but were not included in the shortlist.

Logie, already under contract with the WICB, is still considered a frontrunner for the post. He was seconded to coach Canada at the World Cup, a move that was seen as a sure sign the WICB was preparing him to take over from Harper.

But sources say the candidacy of Eldine Baptiste is equally impressive. Baptiste, an Antiguan all-rounder who played 10 Tests for the West Indies in the mid-1980s, was recently in the running for the job as coach of the South Africa national team when Graham Ford was fired last year.

Baptiste is currently coaching the KwaZulu-Natal senior team. Before that, he had a 20-year cricket career that saw him represent Antigua, the Leeward Islands, West Indies, Kent, Northamptonshire, Eastern Province and finally Natal.

In 10 Tests, Baptiste averaged 23.30 with the bat, with a top score of 87 not out. He also took 16 wickets (35.18 per) with a best of 3-31. In 245 first class matches, he has taken 723 wicket at 24.65 per (best 8-76).


Posted by Orin