PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — West Indies assistant coach David Williams has been made a senior national selector.

The 48-year old Williams, a former T&T captain and West Indies wicketkeeper/batsman, replaces former T&T captain and West Indies off-spinner Ranjie Nanan.

President of the T&T Cricket Board Azim Bassarath explained the decision came about when Nanan decided he no longer had the time to visit matches as mandated by the T&TCB.

“The T&TCB has a new policy in place for the selectors and this requires a lot of time at matches,” he said.

“They are now mandated to visit the National League games and also the championship matches in search of talent and this would have been difficult time-wise for Ranjie.”

Bassarath said: “As a result, we decided to go with David Williams because of his wealth of experience. He was a national selector about 10 years ago and he is well-equipped to make a good contribution.

“David has been around the team for quite a while as coach as well and knows the strengths and weaknesses of the players.”

Bassarath said Williams has in recent times helped out with the national team and accompanied the team during the Caribbean Twenty20 Championship earlier this year and the Champions League T20 in India.

“The management of the team reported to us that he played a big part in the team’s success and we wanted him involved at an even greater level with this team,” said Bassarath.

Williams was appointed to the role of assistant coach to the West Indies team four years ago prior to the first Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa.