LEGENDARY fast bowler and, until recently, head coach of the West Indies women’s cricket team, Mr Courtney Walsh was reportedly disappointed at the way he was told his two-and-a-half-year contract — ending last month — will not be renewed.

If we understand the news reports correctly, Mr Walsh, who was said to be in Antigua — headquarters of Cricket West Indies (CWI) — got the news via telephone call from Director of Cricket Mr James Adams. The latter was on tour with the West Indies team.

Mr Walsh wondered why he couldn’t have been told face to face in Antigua.

“…I thought seeing [that] the CEO [Mr Johnny Grave] was in Antigua at the time, he probably could have walked me through it [termination of contract] …” Mr Walsh reportedly told radio interviewers.

That does seem strange.

Nonetheless, given the nature of sport we are inclined to doubt the CWI’s decision came as a complete surprise to Mr Walsh and his two assistants, Messrs Robert Samuels and Corey Collymore.

After all, the recent record of the WI women’s team is dismal. That poor record includes an early exit at the ICC Women’s Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa in February.

We are told that under Mr Walsh’s guidance, starting October 2020, West Indies Women won 11, lost 17, and tied two of 32 One-Day Internationals (ODIs); and won seven, lost 15, and tied one of 24 T20 Internationals.

The high points were home-and-away series wins against Pakistan, and a semi-final spot in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 in New Zealand.

To be fair to Mr Walsh — as he has pointed out — the talent pool in West Indies women’s cricket is shallow, at best.

That fact came very much to the fore when the dynamic all-rounder Ms Deandra Dottin left the cricket fraternity in shock by announcing her retirement from international cricket last year; and injury to former Captain Ms Stafanie Taylor, among the world’s leading players, led to her absence as well.

Also, veteran, highly respected off-spinner Ms Anisa Mohammed took extended leave from the sport.

The absence of those three left gaping holes, to put it very mildly.

We’ve been told by Mr Adams that, “CWI remains committed to our international women’s programme and will now be focusing on recruiting a new head coach and technical support team”. In the interim a technical support team will be in place.

We note recent comments from Ms Taylor suggesting she is pleased with the “investment” in regional women’s cricket. Ms Taylor, who was at the West Indies Women’s High Performance Centre in Antigua alongside young players, reportedly applauded CWI for its “commitment to grow women’s cricket and develop our young players from the grass roots level all the way to the senior team”.

From our distance though, it seems there is a great deal that must be done, quickly. In Jamaica, for example, seven years after Miss Taylor’s team won the Women’s T20 World Cup, there are still no properly structured leagues for adult women and schoolgirls.

We believe those developmental weaknesses must be addressed across the Caribbean if the glory of 2016 is ever to be replicated.