Shell Cricket Academy go with local coaches

The Chief Cricket Development Officer at the Shell Cricket Academy is putting his faith in homegrown talent.

Guyana-born Dr Michael Seepersaud said earlier this week that the region need not look outside for qualified coaches to chart the future course of the youngsters attending the elite St George’s, Grenada-based academy.

He made the comments on Tuesday at a media conference at the Kapok Hotel, port-of-Spain to announce the names of 25 young, promising players who will attend the academy from May 16 to August 7.

Head coach is Roger Harper, who most recently held that position with the West Indies Test team.

Director of the Academy is Dr Rudi Webster, a former professional cricketer who specialises in sports psychology and is a best selling author.

The former West Indies manager and team psychologist, who has lived many years in Australia will handle training in mental skills.

The coaching staff also includes former Test pacer Kenny Benjamin from Antigua and Barbuda, ex-Barbados player Darnley Boxhill, and fitness and conditioning trainer Chris Parke of Grenada.

Dr Seepersaud said after a couple years with foreigners at the helm of the coaching programme, the administrators of the academy were willing to give regional coaches the opportunity to make their input.

And in an effort to address problems identified with key players and emerging talent, the board of the once-indomitable West Indies is looking to give them remedial training.

“The proposal from the senior selectors is that we should look at the 17 players for specific purposes — bring them together in one place and work on them,” Seepersaud said.

He said details have yet to be worked out but training for the team, currently 0-3 down in the Cable and Wireless Test series  against the touring Australians, would take place at the academy before or after the latest term ends Aug, 7.

Captain and star batsman Brian Lara has said that his players, the youngest ever fielded by the West Indies with an average age just under 25, have been batting well but need to improve their bowling.

The newest batch of players entering the Shell Academy, comprise seven Jamaicans, five from Barbados, four Trinidad and Tobago, four Guyanese, three from the Windward Islands and two from the Leeward Islands. Academy director Rudi Webster urged participants to take advantage of the 12-week course.

“If I can change the way you think about yourselves, your abilities, teammates, your future, spiritual and social as well as your academic life by the end of the programme, I would be the happiest man around,” he told the news conference.

Seepersad said they had “demonstrated that they have what it takes to be high-class players.”

The academy, created three years ago in response to the failing fortunes of the West Indies, has graduated 47 regional players and four from outside the Caribbean.

Also attending the media conference were Nick Shorthose, the Barbados-based Shell Regional Country Manager; Andrew Hart, Shell Country Representative stationed in Port-of-Spain and Kurtis Rudd, Brands and Communication Manager.