Former West Indies fast bowler Daren Powell believes serious consideration should be given to attempting to retrieve the team's former coach Richard Pybus for the recently vacated position of head coach.
Former West Indies fast bowler Daren Powell believes serious consideration should be given to attempting to retrieve the team's former coach Richard Pybus for the recently vacated position of head coach.
Pybus was sacked in controversial circumstances four years ago as part of a raft of changes made by the then-incoming Cricket West Indies administration of president Ricky Skerritt and his vice president Kishore Shallow.
The move had proven to be particularly unpopular at the time, given the fact that West Indies, under his leadership had only just put together an impressive performance in a Test series win against England and showed plenty of good qualities in a battling 2-2 tie in the ODI series between the teams.
In addition to that, several stakeholders and even some players advised the administration against making so many changes with the 2019 World Cup less than two months away.
With the post once again vacant following the resignation of Phil Simmons, Powell believes the opportunity could exist to correct what many consider to have been a grave error in judgment.
As to whether the 54-year-old Pybus, who is reportedly shortlisted for the South Africa job, would be interested in returning after a departure in such acrimonious circumstances, or whether the CWI be willing to make such a drastic reversal is another thing entirely.
"Why can't we go back for him (Pybus) he was doing a good job and we have tried another way and it seems as if things didn't go down the right road," Powell told the Mason and Guest radio program.
As a part of their election platform, the Skerritt, Shallow administration had promised to give priority to Caribbean-born individuals for top leadership positions.
"If you look at Pybus and what he did with the West Indies, I would have been willing to cut off my nose to spite my face for him...how do you know why a man becomes a man when he can accept that he was wrong, apologize and move on," Powell added.
Prior to his appointment as coach of the team, Pybus endured somewhat of a rocky tenure, serving as High Performance director in February 2018, having previously served as West Indies director of cricket from 2013 to the end of 2016.