Haynes: Make me West Indies coach

The decision will ultimately rest with director of cricket Jimmy Adams and West Indies Cricket Board chief executive Johnny Grave, and Haynes is desperate to be interviewed

West Indies great Desmond Haynes wants to be their new coach, and says he can be a father figure in the role.

And he has received backing from his former team-mate and captain, the legendary Viv Richards.

Stuart Law is leaving the post to become Middlesex supremo next summer, and West Indies will need a replacement ahead of the post-Christmas tour by England.

The decision will ultimately rest with director of cricket Jimmy Adams and West Indies Cricket Board chief executive Johnny Grave, and Haynes is desperate to be interviewed.

Haynes, 62, was one of West Indies’ greatest openers. He scored 18 Test centuries and 17 in ODIs, forming a prolific partnership with his fellow Bajan, Gordon Greenidge.

“I hope they will interview me,” he told The Cricketer. “I am not saying I can take West Indies back to No.1, but I think I can take us back into the world’s top four.

“I believe the head coach should be working more closely with the coaches in the territories, rather than just working with the players when they reach Test level. The feeder system must be working smoothly, so that the players who arrive at Test level are ready. It is not good them arriving at Test level and realising, ‘Oh, we are not fit enough’.

^{Law will take up the role of head coach with Middlesex}

“The job is about management, it is about helping people work out situations – I can help people know how to handle a situation, how to find the correct levels of concentration.

“I am not saying a coach has to be someone who has played Test cricket, or a lot of international cricket, but there must be a sense of match intelligence in the dressing room, so he can assist players as situations arise.”

Richards, 66, says he would support Haynes’ application. “I would love to see a Caribbean person in that position. We have had these overseas coaches, but I have not seen the benefit of that as yet. We have spent a fair bit of money on them, and we have not seen the progress you would expect.”

Among Law’s predecessors were his fellow Australians, Bennett King and John Dyson.

“I would love to give it someone who has been close to the successes of the past, because I think the players are lacking that information,” Richards added.

“The players have squandered beautiful positions, and I think that is because they have lacked someone with a solid base of success and winning. Desmond has been there, done that. He knows how to win!

“I won’t be singing my own praises, but if someone feels I can help... the WICB have ignored players like me over the years.”

Richards was representing the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority, while Haynes was with Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc at World Travel Market 2018