ST JOHN’S, Antigua (CMC) — Miles Bascombe was Friday announced as Cricket West Indies’ new director of cricket, replacing James “Jimmy” Adams who left this month after six years in the role.

The 37-year-old Bascombe, who spent two years as a senior selector between 2019 and 2021 and also served as technical director of the Windward Islands Cricket Board for the last two years, has been appointed on a three-year contract.

A former first-class batsman who played a single Twenty20 International for West Indies 12 years ago, Bascombe is a certified coach with bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The University of West Indies.

“Following a thorough recruitment process, Miles stood out to the panel with his skills, experience, and intimate knowledge of our cricket system, especially at [the] territorial board level,” said CWI chief executive Johnny Grave.

“His passion and understanding of the game at all levels are outstanding. He is a critical thinker with a strong, analytical, and strategic mindset — which will be hugely beneficial to us as we embark on formulating our new four-year strategic plan.

“I have no doubt he will hit the ground running and will relish the challenge before us to develop higher standards and better structures within our cricket system.”

Bascombe will assume the role on August 1, with CWI High Performance Manager Graeme West acting as interim director of cricket until then.

The Vincentian takes over at a critical juncture of West Indies cricket, with the men’s teams struggling internationally, ranked eighth in Tests, 10th in One-Day Internationals, and seventh in Twenty20 Internationals.

West Indies Women have also seen their performances decline in recent years in both formats.

However, Bascombe said he was looking forward to creating “a winning culture” during his tenure.

“West Indies Cricket is at a critical stage with an urgent need to improve performances,” Bascombe said.

“We have made significant progress with establishing a central high-performance system that now needs to be rolled out across all of our territories.

“I am looking forward to working as a member of the CWI senior leadership team and closely with the territorial boards to bring about the necessary improvements that, I am confident, will lead to more success by implementing a robust system based on achieving world-class standards and by driving a winning culture.”