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Wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin was named yesterday as captain of the West Indies Test team, the West Indies Cricket Board said on its Twitter feed. The 29-year-old Ramdin will take over from all-rounder Darren Sammy who will remain as the Twenty20 skipper. |
Sammy was appointed Test captain in 2010 and led them to series victories over Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and New Zealand but his overall record was eight wins and 12 defeats, including five in the last six matches.
Ramdin’s will lead West Indies in the three-Test home series against New Zealand starting in Kingston, Jamaica on June 8. The Trinidadian right-hander has played 56 Tests, scoring 2,235 runs at an average of 27.25, including four centuries, and taking 156 catches.
McMillan named New Zealand batting coach for Windies tour
Former batsman Craig McMillan has been appointed New Zealand’s batting coach for the upcoming tour of West Indies, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) said.
“We had a number of strong applicants from New Zealand and abroad but overall we felt that Craig was the best fit for the role,” NZC head of cricket Lindsay Crocker said in a statement.
Capped 55 times, the 37-year-old former all-rounder had worked as batting coach for Canterbury, juggling the role with his commentary career. New Zealand will leave for West Indies later this month to play three Tests and two Twenty20 Internationals after which NZC are expected to name a full-time batting coach.
PCB defends Waqar’s appointment as Pakistan coach
Pakistan cricket chiefs defended their decision to appoint fast bowling legend Waqar Younis as head coach, after former interim coach Mohsin Khan lashed out at the decision.
The Pakistan Cricket Board had on Tuesday handed Waqar a two-year contract for a second stint in the top job—without interviewing the other six applicants, including Khan.
Khan hit out at the PCB on Thursday, saying he was a “deserving candidate”, and he is now likely to challenge the appointment in court. But PCB chiefs said the board had agreed that Waqar was “better suited to take the team forward”.
The 42-year-old played 87 Tests and 262 one-day internationals for Pakistan and held the job of national team coach from February 2010 to September 2011.
“Waqar has regularly been associated with Pakistan cricket and commentating on the game as well,” PCB management committee member Zaheer Abbas told a press conference. “The PCB thought that Waqar was better suited to take the team forward” he said”.
He added that Khan’s strengths and weaknesses, like Waqar’s, were already well known to cricket chiefs. “As a procedure we usually interview candidates about whom we have no or little information. But Khan’s case was different—he is quite familiar to us and we are aware of his strengths and weaknesses,” he said.
As temporary coach, Khan guided Pakistan to 3-0 rout of then number one England in 2012 before he was replaced by Australian coach Dav Whatmore.
