Courtney Walsh, the iconic West Indian fast bowler, has been fired as the head coach of the national women’s cricket team. The reason behind this decision is the team’s inability to progress to the knockout stages of the T20 World Cup, which took place in South Africa.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) has announced that it will soon commence the process of appointing a replacement for Walsh, along with his support staff, who were not offered contract extensions due to the team’s poor performance in the Women’s T20 World Cup.
Despite defeating Ireland and Pakistan, the West Indies cricket team could only manage a third-place finish in their group, having lost their first two matches against England and India.
Under Walsh’s leadership, which began in October 2020, the West Indies women’s cricket team achieved victories in both home and away series against Pakistan. Additionally, they made it to the semifinals of the 2022 ICC Women’s 50-over Cricket World Cup, but were defeated by the eventual champions, Australia.
In a review process conducted by CWI, it was decided that the contracts of technical assistant coaches Robert Samuels and Corey Collymore, along with the contract of the ICC Hall of Fame member Walsh, will not be renewed.
“Cricket West Indies (CWI) will shortly be starting the process to recruit a new West Indies Women’s team Head Coach after taking the decision not to renew the contract of Women’s Head Coach Courtney Walsh,” read a CWI statement.
“We are very grateful for the contribution of Courtney and his technical team over the past two and a half years and we wish them all the best going forward. CWI remains committed to our international women’s programme and will now be focusing on recruiting a new Head Coach and technical support team. An interim technical support team will be put in place during the recruitment period,” said CWI director of cricket, Jimmy Adams.
