ST JOHN’S, Antigua — Cricket West Indies (CWI) hosted a High-Performance Workshop on Tuesday designed to improve the standard of fielding in the game around the entire region.

Coaches from all six territorial professional franchises were involved, as well as several players now participating in the CG Insurance Super50 Cup as part of CWI’s new Coach Development Programme.

The on-field presentation was led by Trevor Penney, the current West Indies men’s assistant coach, an experienced international fielding coach who has also performed a variety of high-profile coaching roles across the Indian Premier League, Caribbean Premier League, and Australian domestic cricket.

Penney, alongside fellow West Indies Men’s Assistant Coach Rayon Griffith, shared cutting-edge fielding techniques already in operation to prepare the West Indies squads for the upcoming CG Insurance T20 Internationals, CG Insurance One-Day Internationals and Test matches against Sri Lanka

The workshop was also attended by West Indies legends Shivnarine Chanderpaul, assistant coach/manager of Guyana Jaguars; Courtney Walsh, head coach of West Indies Women’s team; and cricket consultant, Sir Curtly Ambrose.

The workshop was organised and co-ordinated by Chris Brabazon, CWI’s coach development manager, and conducted at the world famous Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.

CWI’s new Coach Development Programme includes a variety of high-performance coaching workshops that are all designed to equip regional coaches with the latest practical coaching methods and technologies required to help West Indian players perform at their peak and be successful at the highest levels of the game. Key areas covered in this workshop included mental approach and attitude to fielding, anticipation, intercepting ground balls (including diving/sliding) and throwing techniques [including direct hits].

“This was a great morning with our dedicated regional coaches and some of the best fielders we have. It was all about sharing information as we look to improve cricket in the West Indies and produce better equipped players. It’s all about the fundamentals — going back to the basics and fixing some of the things that need attention. It was wonderful to see the level of enthusiasm, the interaction, the awareness and skill from everyone involved,” said Penney.

Organiser Brabazon says access to top-quality coaching of players will redoud to the benefit of the regional game.

“Whenever we have access to our top specialists and coaches of Trevor Penney’s calibre, we will continue to find ways to connect them with our coaches and players across the region to enhance our West Indies Cricket Pathway. This CWI high-performance workshop marks the start of what will be an ongoing series of events that are designed to empower our regional coaches with the knowledge required to develop world-class West Indian cricketers,” he noted.

Jamaican Walshsaid“this was a great step forward as we send the message that all the coaches in the region are working on the same page with techniques and player development”.

To maximise the impact of this and future workshops, CWI will be developing the footage into shorter coaching videos to be shared with coaches and players across the region within the new CWI Coach Development Programme.

This programme is a key part of the new “Cricket First” strategy and investment plan to implement a sustainable world-class coach development system across the breadth of the West Indies Cricket Pathway. This will ultimately lead to the development of better players through better coaching.