In mid-year, after the West Indies Test team shocked the cricketing world by beating England 1-0 before sweeping Bangladesh 2-0 on home turf, Caribbean fans weren’t exactly over the moon.

They had seen such success before, only for high expectations to be doused by overwhelming failure. However, there was an air of quiet optimism.

That positive vibe gradually diminished following setbacks in white-ball cricket. A sense of growing disappointment reached crescendo in October with the calamitous booting of the West Indies from the Twenty20 (T20) World Cup in Australia at the qualifying stage.

Consequentially, Head Coach Mr Phil Simmons gave notice of his departure from the top job. He walked away following a two-Test match tour of high-riding Australia just recently.

West Indian expectations were never high for the latter tour. Australia are in a different league altogether — ranked number one in Test match cricket globally while West Indies are eighth. Furthermore, the last time West Indies beat Australia in a Test match was 19 years ago in Antigua when the Caribbean side spectacularly chased down a world record 418 runs.

Nonetheless, the failure of West Indies bowlers to dismiss Australia even once in four Test-match innings was galling, to put it mildly. A succession of injuries simply made the situation worse for the tourists.

It’s against that backdrop that Mr Andre Coley, the former Jamaica wicketkeeper, has accepted the job as interim head coach for the upcoming West Indies two-Test tour of Zimbabwe in February to be followed by a multi-format visit to South Africa.

Some will argue that Mr Coley, currently head coach of the West Indies academy programme, has taken on a poisoned chalice. Yet, those who have had contact with Mr Coley at any level recognise a diligent, hard-working individual who will not back down from a challenge.

As pointed out by Mr James Adams, Cricket West Indies director of cricket, Mr Coley has had a thorough grounding, having worked at every level in regional cricket development. He was assistant coach of the West Indies men’s team which won the 2016 T20 World Cup and has been head coach of the West Indies Under-19 team, assistant coach of the West Indies women’s team, as well as head coach of Jamaica Scorpions and Windward Islands Volcanoes.

It means that Mr Coley will have had close contact with all the players likely to be on the upcoming tours of southern Africa. In truth, we can think of no one more qualified for the job at this time.

We are encouraged by Mr Coley’s stated intention to “ensure that our planning and preparation are appropriate”, and that there is “consistency in the execution of these plans, to give ourselves the best opportunity to achieve positive results”.

He needs no one to tell him that the task ahead is enormous. Nor will he be unaware of the clear and present need for West Indies cricket to start building a reputation for consistent success, in order to attract the kind of resource support required to achieve sustained viability; and indeed, to survive.

We wish Mr Coley, his staff, and very crucially, his players, all the very best.