Former Test opening batsman Philo Wallace doesn’t believe that Shivnarine Chanderpaul should become the new head coach of the West Indies cricket team.

Speaking on the Mason And Guest cricket radio show on Tuesday night, Wallace said that Chanderpaul was lacking coaching experience at the international level and was not the man for the job.

“Shiv Chanderpaul as head coach would surprise me. If he is appointed, is it based on scoring 11,000 Test runs, his coaching experience at the international level is very limited. We cannot continue to keep following people. We have to set the example. Chanderpaul has been a fantastic player. He has had some success with the Jamaican Tallawahs, is it possible he can transfer that into red ball cricket?”

“Is there a bigger role outside of head coach for Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Can he be our batting consultant? Is he better suited for that role rather than a being head coach. These are things that need to be discussed. Just don’t appoint a man because he has over 11 000 Test runs,” Wallace said.

Wallace, 52, a former Barbados captain, said that selecting a head coach of the West Indies is going to be a major headache.

“We need to get someone to get our young people to understand what Test cricket is all about. Is Chanderpaul capable of doing that?

“I know he has matured now, he is a better person but is he not better suited to be the batting consultant. The head coach of Cricket West Indies is going to be a headache. If you have not appointed one for the new year for the serious tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa, you are staring down the barrel in relation to applications for the head coach job,” he added.

The 48-year-old Chanderpaul is one of the most prolific bastmen in the history of West Indies’ cricket, scoring 11,867 runs with 30 hundreds. He played the last of his 164 matches against England at Kensington Oval in May 2015.

Former West Indies opening batsman Philo Wallace believes the 15-man squad selected for the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia has the issue of being short of genuine batsmen.

It’s safe to say that the selection announced by the Desmond Haynes-led panel, earlier this week, included quite a few surprises.  The list included some players on the fringes of the T20 unit for a while, with the likes of Sheldon Cottrell and Johnson Charles recalled and the inexperienced Yannic Cariah also earning somewhat of a shock selection.  

In some ways, Wallace believes the team is similar in composition to the West Indies squad selected for last year's failed World Cup campaign, which had focused on stacking up power hitters.

“We’re going to Australia on bigger cricket grounds and we are carrying a lot of hitters of the cricket ball.  I think when these guys are asked to bat, they are going to find themselves in problems.  A lot of them are not even in form,” Wallace told the Mason and Guest radio program.

The former opener also had questions regarding how different pieces of the team would fit together.

“If you play Johnson Charles you have four openers on that T20 squad right now.  Is he going to keep wicket or is he going to field out.  Yannic Cariah is a wildcard, he doesn’t play T20 cricket, and he’s not involved in CPL.  If he plays where is he going to fit into the 11?”

Former West Indies opener Philo Wallace described the feeling of watching the West Indies batsmen struggle against spin bowling as “disheartening.”

“It’s very disheartening to see our batsmen continue to struggle against spin,” said Wallace on the Mason & Guest radio show in Barbados on Tuesday.

The West Indies suffered an embarrassing 0-3 series defeat against Bangladesh last week at Providence in Guyana, a surface known to favor spin bowling.

“They have to find a method of how to play slow bowling. I find it very uncomfortable that our batsmen don’t seem to understand how to play on that type of surface,” said Wallace, who played seven Tests and 33 ODIs from 1997-2000.

The inability to play spin meant that the hosts were unable to bat out the full 50 overs in any of the matches, something Wallace said is not acceptable.

“You can’t consistently get bowled out inside 50 overs. When you find yourself three or four wickets down inside the first 20 overs, you’re going to struggle. They’re not getting the starts from the openers. The middle order is struggling and leaving it to some sluggers at the bottom,” he said.

When questioned about a solution to the problem, Wallace pointed to something that has been an issue for the West Indies in limited overs cricket for more than a decade, rotation of the strike.

“You have to be fit and you’ve got to work around the ball and know your partner at the other end. When you get your ones and twos up front, it will make it easier for the guys at the back end,” Wallace said.

He further emphasized his point by highlighting an innings played by South African Rassie van der Dussen against England on Tuesday where he scored 134 off 117 balls hitting only 10 fours and no sixes. South Africa hit no sixes in their innings and were able to score 333-5 from their 50 overs before bowling England out for 271.

Former West Indies batsman Philo Wallace is surprised at the decision by the Cricket West Indies (CWI) selection panel to not name a vice-captain for the T20I team.

Trinidadian left-hander Nicholas Pooran was announced as the West Indies’ new T20 and ODI skipper on Tuesday following the retirement of former captain Kieron Pollard from international cricket last month.

Barbados batsman Shai Hope was named the ODI vice-captain but there was no such announcement for the T20 format.

“Shai Hope is being designated as his deputy for the 50-over squad. There’s no vice-captain for the T20 squad, which I find very interesting,” said Wallace while appearing on the Mason & Guest Radio Show in Barbados on Tuesday.

Missing international assignments has been a big problem for the West Indian players, who are involved in various T20 leagues around the world and Wallace hopes this doesn’t become an issue with the new Windies skipper.

“His first assignment is away to Holland and I hope that we don’t hear that Pooran is going to miss a lot of international cricket after being elevated to this very serious post. I do hope that the selectors would’ve sat down with him via zoom and have a serious discussion with him about what they are expecting of him and what he’s expecting of himself and try to pick the best possible squads going forward,” he said.

“All I can say is I wish him all the very best and I do hope that he can help turn our cricket around and work closely with the players, selection panel and the coaches to try to lift the quality of our white ball cricket,” Wallace added.

Pooran has so far scored 1121 runs at an average of 40.03 in 37 ODIs and 1193 runs at an average of 27.74 in 57 T20Is.

Former West Indies batsman, Philo Wallace, says the Caribbean side should look to the future instead of the past in order to return West Indies cricket to what it once was.

Former West Indies opening batsman Philo Wallace believes T20 captain Kieron Pollard must shoulder a huge part of the blame following the team’s faltering and ultimately fruitless title defense of the T20 World Cup.

On Thursday, the regional team limped out of semi-final contention after losing to Sri Lanka by 20 runs, a result that had followed heavy defeats to England and South Africa. 

In between the three defeats, the team did manage one win, which came against Bangladesh but that was far from some of the loftier expectations heading into the event.

Ahead of the competition, the selection of several senior players had proven to be a major bone of contention with some fans around the region, who clamoured for younger players to be included. 

In response, however, it was argued that the experience of the senior players would prove vital to the campaign.  In reality, things did not quite pan out that way.  The likes of Chris Gayle, Lendl Simmons, Ravi Rampaul, Dwayne Bravo, and Pollard himself, had disappointing performances.  In addition to his performances with the bat and ball, Wallace argues, however, that Pollard failed to deliver in another key area, his leadership.

“I think Pollard has failed us in that he has not stepped up to lead the team, the way we thought he would have led the team,” Wallace told the Mason and Guest radio program.

“…I thought that Pollard would have been the one to step up and say gentlemen I will take this on my back, and we are going to do this, X, Y, Z.  To tell the public that it is not a developing tour and then be in the position that we are in with seasoned campaigners is detrimental to his credibility,” he added.

“For all that he is worth in T20 cricket, I have not seen it at this World Cup…I know he had an injury but I expected more from him in terms of gluing that middle order together and with bowling and stuff, those guys needed a leader.”

Overall, Pollard scored 46 runs, with a best of 26 and an average of 15.33.

Former West Indies opener Philo Wallace does not believe Chris Gayle should be included in a West Indies squad for the ICC T20 World Cup to be held in the United Arab Emirates next month.

Wallace believes the 42-year-old Jamaican, arguably the best T20 player in history, who has served West Indies cricket well over the years, is now well past his best. He cites Gayle's performances so far in the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League as clear signs that the Universe Boss is not the game-changing player he used to be.

“Past performances don’t cut it,” Wallace argued while speaking on the Mason&Guest radio show in Barbados on Tuesday evening.

“Gayle has done wonderfully well. I have no disrespect for Christopher Gayle. I think he has done wonderfully well for the West Indies and himself but the time has come where you need to sit down or stand in a mirror and say ‘can I make it? Can I make it through a world cup?”

At the time he made his comments Gayle had scored 83 runs in five matches in the 2021 CPL with a top score of 42. He is averaging 16.6 runs an innings and has a strike rate of 110.60. According to Wallace, those numbers are simply not good enough.

“For where he is right now in the CPL, it’s a bit of a struggle for someone like Gayle knowing his reputation and what he can do, but you want people of that vintage to be striking it,” Wallace said.

“You had enough time to prepare for the CPL and you know that the CPL is coming before selection for the World Cup.

“If you really wanted to make a statement that I want to go to the world cup despite my age you need to be striking the ball and score runs. There is no excuse for it.”

Wallace named the team he would select for the World Cup and it included Kieron Pollard (captain) Nicholas Pooran (vice-captain), Evin Lewis, Lendl Simmons Shimron Hetmyer, Fabian Allen, Andre Russell, Obed McCoy, Dwayne Bravo, Jason Holder, Andre Fletcher, Hayden Walsh Jr, Akeal Hosein, Odean Smith and Roston Chase.

He listed Sherfane Rutherford, Oshane Thomas and Romario Shepherd as his reserves.

“There is no Gayle, there is no Fidel Edwards because I feel when you get to a certain vintage and you are not fit you have to quit,” Wallace said.

“This cricket is going to be hard. The UAE is not going to be easy against the best players in the world. New Zealand has left out Ross Taylor as well, so they’re looking to move on. West Indies cricket needs to move on.”