The West Indies team, which started the 2022 World Cup journey with a 42-run defeat against Scotland, managed to stay in the tournament by winning the second match against Zimbabwe by 31 runs.
But the two-time champions was eliminated from the first round of the Twenty20 World Cup for the first time in history after the Irish team won the decisive third match easily by 9 wickets.
With the early exit from the World Cup, West Indies head coach Phil Simmons has announced that he will resign after the upcoming Australia Test series.
In addition, West Indies white-ball captain Nicholas Pooran announced a few days ago that he will also step down as captain after losing the final match of the CG Super 50 series. Critics felt that due to the increased pressure and responsibility, Pooran was unable to achieve what was expected of him.
Legendary batsman and former West Indies captain Sir Vivian Richards believes that amid the struggle to find talented captains across all formats, there should be keen interest from Cricket West Indies and others to groom potential captains.
His recommendation comes amid debate over who should take the reins of the region’s T20 squad following the short-lived run of Trinidadian Nicholas Pooran, who stepped down following the team’s poor performance in the 2022 T20 World Cup as they failed to progress from the qualifiers.
“We should have had, maybe, even when Nicholas Pooran was in charge, guys in the wing who could just step in and say ‘this is the individual who we’ve been working with for a number of years’.”
“If they haven’t done that, then I guess it is going to be lottery-like in a sense, but we should, at least, have identified some individual we felt suitable, like the vice-captain. I am just hoping that we find someone who can basically get things going.”
Sir Viv said the difficulties of leading a team through a rocky period can be a daunting task for many.
“I guess he was under pressure and I think it might be a personal thing as well, too, along with those who had his ears. Maybe he felt that his contribution to the team wasn’t enough and all of that could be part of the [decision] factor.”
Last year and earlier this year, Pooran led West Indies without Kieron Pollard, enjoying a T20 International (T20I) series against Australia at home (4-1). When Pollard stepped down in May this year, he was officially appointed as the West Indies men’s white-ball captain. In all, Pooran led the team in 17 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and 23 T20Is, recording series wins against the Netherlands (ODI 3-0) and Bangladesh (T20I 2-0).