St Johns [Antigua], June 23 : Courtney Walsh's former assistant Robert Samuels has been appointed as the new interim head coach of the West Indies women's team for their upcoming white ball series against Ireland.
When the West Indies made significant changes to their coaching staff earlier this year, Samuels' contract as an assistant coach under Walsh was not renewed. However, the 52-year-old has gained a reprieve by being given the top role for the home series against Ireland, which begins later this month.
The former Jamaica captain and West Indies opening batter will take the reins on an interim basis and Cricket West Indies High-Performance Manager Graeme West is confident he will perform well.
"Robert brings continuity and stability to get the team through this period. He has great knowledge of the players and the women's game in general and strong knowledge of the support staff, so it's almost a seamless transition with Robert coming in as interim head coach," West said in an official statement released by Cricket West Indies.
"He has his own ideas and is trying to implement them now as interim head coach as opposed to assistant coach. He has made a good impact and start over the last few days and I'm sure it will continue throughout the series," he added.
Samuels represented the West Indies in six Tests and eight ODIs. His final game for the team was a Test victory over Australia in Perth in 1997, where he scored 76 and 35* as part of Walsh's winning squad.
Ryan Austin, a former West Indies spin bowler, and Steve Liburd, a former captain of the Leeward Islands, have been selected as the Jamaican's assistants.
The first of three ODIs against Ireland commences at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground in St Lucia on June 26, with the three-match T20I series starting at the same venue from July 4.
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