West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has appointed former Australia cricketer Stuart Law as its new coach on a two-year contract. Law had previously coached the Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi national sides and has served in various coaching roles with teams from around the world. The 48-year-old Australian will work under new director of cricket, Jimmy Adams and chairman of selectors Courtney Browne, both of whom have represented the West Indian nation side before.
West Indies had been without a full-time head coach since Phil Simmons was sacked in September, 2016. Law, who will be the third Australian to coach West Indies, will start working with the team, from February 15th and shall hope to help it get back to winning ways after some turbulent times. The Windies are currently placed ninth in the ODI rankings, two points behind the likes of Pakistan and four behind Bangladesh.
Law’s recent coaching stint came being in charge of Bangladesh Premier League side Khulna Titans where he worked with the likes of West Indies batsmen Lendl Simmons and all rounder Andre Fletcher.
Law played only one test match and 54 ODIs for the Australian national team but was a regular in the domestic circuit, captaining Queensland to their first Sheffield Shield win in 1994-95, he was one of the leading batsmen in English county cricket in long stints with Essex and Lancashire, as well as having a brief spell at Derbyshire at the end of his career.
Curiously though, Law’s contract ends in February 2019, just three months before the next World Cup in England, which begins May 30 of that year.
Will the Aussie experience come to the rescue of the West Indian team? Well, if MSK Prasad with limited experiences of international cricket can be the Chief of Selectors of the Indian cricket team, Law too can be an asset for West Indies.
(With inputs from ESPN)