Umpire apologizes for his mistakes…West Indies is getting a new head coach and a preview of England Tour of West Indies

BY: KAYLA KARIM

After a controversial call against the West Indies, umpire, Tanvir Ahmed apologized for his mistakes. It was a couple of no-ball calls that some may say changed the pace of the third T20I between Bangladesh and the West Indies earlier in December.

This call caused an 8-minute break in the match due to West Indies captain Carlos Brathwaite protesting against the decision. Brathwaite was clearly unhappy with the decision where he continued to converse with the fourth umpire, Sharfuddoula and match referee, Jeff Crowe, however, Brathwaite was told that the no-ball was not able to be reviewed.

Ahmed stated that he has a good track record as an umpire and that the call was a mistake on his part.

“If you look at my past, I don’t have a bad history. It was one mistake. Every person has good days and bad days. Yesterday I had a bad day. The match just ended yesterday. I am not focusing on anything else. I am thinking about my mistake.”

Tanvir Ahmed officiated all of the matches in the T20I series.

West Indies won the match followed by a post-game press conference where Brathwaite reacted very strongly saying he already had a word with the other umpires about the previous decisions after the second T20I on Thursday.

Richard Pybus to become West Indies new head coach

After concluding the final T20 series for 2018, the West Indies have named current high-performance director, Richard Pybus, as the full-time head coach. Replacing Nic Pothas, Pybus’ contract will run until the 2019 Test Series against India following the ODI World Cup in England.

Nic Pothsas, the original fielding coach was named as the interim head coach for the recent tour of Bangladesh shortly after Stuart Law departed.

Richard Pybus started in the newly created role, High Performance Director in February 2018. Prior to taking on this position with the West Indies, he left his previous role of director of cricket in 2016. Earlier in his coaching career, Pybus coached Pakistan taking them to finals of the 1999 World Cup as well as working with a number of domestic teams around the world. His last stint with an international team came when Pybus worked with Bangladesh as their head coach for only five months as there was a disagreement over the terms of his contract in 2012.

The High Performance Director contract was initially a two-year contract allowing him to work alongside selectors and coaches across multiple levels in cricket in the Caribbean. Pybus had previously served as the West Indies’ director of cricket from 2013 to the end of 2016 where he chose not to renew his contract.

Although three years were spent with the West Indies, Pybus was not welcomed by everyone in the organization. Darren Sammy, who was the captain of the West Indies at the time Pybus was in office, made clear on Twitter that he was unimpressed with the decision.   

“Lies, lies, lies… Must be fake news,” Sammy tweeted, and a day later, in response to a reply: “Well I’m still hoping that nightmare is not true #fakenews he’s not coming back at CWI.

The West Indies has been without a permanent head coach since Stuart Law resigned in September 2018. Forty-nine-year-old Stuart Law stayed for less than two years on the job. He left West Indies and signed a four-year contract with the English county team, Middlesex.

Law helped improve the West Indies’ standings in Tests in addition to securing a spot in the 2019 World Cup.