Batting Consultant Upbeat on Regional Talent and Coaching Capacity After Completing Six Territorial Visits
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Cricket West Indies (CWI) Batting Consultant Bob Carter has praised the talent, skill and appetite to learn among the region’s emerging batters following the conclusion of CWI’s High-Performance Batting Tour.
The tour, which began on September 24 and ended with the Leeward Islands leg in Antigua from October 23–26, took Carter and CWI High-Performance Coach Rohan Nurse to six territories – the Windward Islands, Barbados, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and the Leeward Islands – reaching 67 emerging batters and 64 territorial coaches.
Explaining his role within the wider West Indies High-Performance set-up, Carter said:
“The senior team is well run and organised. My job is to come in and see what’s underneath, to be able to supply players to feed into that team and at all senior levels.”
Reflecting on the tour overall, he stated:
“It’s a bit of a cliché, but it’s been a great journey. What I have found is that there are a lot of talented and skilled players to work with on the batting front.”
He noted that the strengths he observed across the territories were in line with what he has seen around the world but singled out the players’ desire to improve.
“The common strengths are no different from what I’ve seen around the world. I think my biggest takeaway from the tour has been the players’ buy-in and their desire to learn. So, from my perspective as a batting coach, it’s been really welcoming to see how everyone has bought into what we’re trying to do.”
Carter also commended the territorial coaches who worked alongside him at each camp.
“I couldn’t speak highly enough of the coaches. They all came along with an open mind and were all very keen to get involved and get hands-on throughout the programme. They would’ve heard everything I’ve spoken about many times before, but the key is for them to use this opportunity to add something to their coaching repertoire.”
His advice to those coaches is to build strong relationships with their players and ensure training sessions remain challenging.
“The key is to make sure you have that relationship with your player. Make sure you can meet to have regular sessions with them and really test them out. It’s not about having nice, easy sessions; it’s all about testing the player, getting them out of their comfort zones and getting them working on their technique.”
The consultant made the point that while there are several key performance indicators that will be evaluated over time to gauge the success of the approach and the programme, the proof will really be seen in the number of quality players progressing through the system and putting themselves in contention for selection at the senior level.
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