David Williams keen on Windies coaching job

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) will hold their next board meeting on October 20 and one of the items on the agenda will be the cricket committee's recommendations for a new coach and assistant coach. David Williams, the Trinidad and Tobago coach, is hoping his credentials will be favourably received.

Williams, currently preparing his local charges to defend their KFC Cup regional 50-overs title, is a confirmed candidate for the post vacated by Australian Bennett King. West Indies have been without a permanent coach since King, who gave up the post in April following the team's exit from the World Cup at the Super Eights stage.

Since then, King's former assistant, David Moore took charge of the team on the tour of England where West Indies lost the Test series 3-0, shared the Twenty20 1-1 and won the ODI series 2-1.

However, Williams, who was Moore's assistant for the World Twenty20 in South Africa, was one of a number of West Indians vying for the post.

Dav Whatmore, the former Sri Lanka and Bangladesh coach, who was said to be on the short-list for the job, has since accepted an offer to head India's National Cricket Academy.

Former West Indies players Eldine Baptiste, Ottis Gibson and even Williams' former T&T and West Indies team-mate Phil Simmons have been rumoured to be interested in the job. However, Williams feels he has a few things in his favour.

"One of the advantages I have is that I have played with most and against most of them (current players)," he told the Trinidad Express. "They know me pretty well. Having said that, it should be a lot easier to get through to these guys."

However, Williams, winner of five regional trophies in four seasons with T&T, also admitted that his World Cup experience in South Africa was revealing.

"It helped me to identify a few things," he said. "I don't think the attitude of some of the players was right. It opened up my eyes to a lot of things, the lack of consistency and attitude."

West Indies left the tournament early after losing both their group games to hosts South Africa and Bangladesh. Still, Williams said the experience has not lessened his desire to be the head coach.

"Of course not. It's a challenge. It's something that you want to see improve."

Among some of the other matters on the WICB agenda for the meeting will be the appointment of the team management for the forthcoming tours of Zimbabwe and South Africa; the report on a debriefing of the team management on the England and World Twenty20 tours; the Stanford 20/20 regional series; the development of a Professional League; and a report on the Cricket Academy.