FORMER Cricket West Indies (CWI) Director Wilford “Billy” Heaven has doubled down on the call to have Daren Sammy removed as head coach of the regional side.

Heaven’s comments arrive against the backdrop of the West Indies team’s elimination at the Super Eight stage of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s Twenty20 (T20) World Cup earlier this month.

Two-time former champions West Indies were perfect in the first round, defeating major rivals and eventual semi-finalists England en route to topping Group C with a perfect win record.

West Indies began their Super Eight campaign by hammering Zimbabwe but were brought to earth by losses to South Africa and co-hosts India. The India team won the title after defeating New Zealand in the final.

Sammy, who captained West Indies to T20 World Cup glory in 2012 and 2016, has coached the white-ball teams since 2023. He became all-format head coach when he took charge of the Test side in 2025.

Heaven, the former Jamaica Cricket Association president, charged that Sammy should not have been given coaching reins and should now be given the boot.

“My position is clear: Sammy is not qualified to be the head coach of the WI team in any of the formats,” he said in a written response to questions posed by the Jamaica Observer.

He said that during the 2026 World Cup West Indies suffered mostly from lack of clarity over “team composition”, and shortcoming in “tactical execution under pressure”.

Heaven added: “The WI team had the players to do much better in the tournament. The guys were experienced T20 players, most of whom [have] played in the Indian Premier League so they were familiar with playing in India, at least.”

While Heaven has been adamant that Sammy step aside or be removed from his position, CWI President Dr Kishore Shallow said last week that any change was unlikely before the coach’s contract expires after the 2027 50-over World Cup.

Dr Shallow said CWI will carry out an assessment of the regional team’s performance at the T20 World Cup.

“We are still continuing to have conversations. We plan to have a conversation, as is normal after these major tournaments, where we’ll have an assessment done and see what went wrong,” Dr Shallow said during an interview on
iSports i95.5 FM.

“Ultimately, we didn’t go to the World Cup to reach the Super Eights. We went to win the World Cup and we didn’t win, so we can’t say that we are comfortable with that. I’m certainly very disappointed that we didn’t win.

“However, I certainly took note of the fact that we showed some improvements in all areas; we won five out of seven matches, and the matches that we won we did so convincingly, and barring the one game against South Africa, we really competed,” Dr Shallow said.

In the face of positive reviews regarding the West Indies overall performance, particularly given their woeful run heading into the T20 World Cup, Heaven insisted that frailties were exposed when the regional team faced top opposition, hence their failure to reach the semi-finals.

“West Indies remain one of the most decorated teams in the format… A [team] with such a legacy should reasonably expect to compete for semi-final places, not simply celebrate advancement past the preliminary phase.

“When the tournament reached its most competitive phase, the team was unable to sustain the level required to challenge the leading sides.

“The true benchmark should remain clear: Consistent competitiveness deep into the latter stages of global tournaments,” he reiterated.

Heaven said “flashes” of West Indies dominance “were overshadowed by decisive defeats against stronger opponents”. He noted that “the gap in tactical execution, bowling penetration, and batting composure became evident” in those losses.

— Sanjay Myers

HEAVEN… the WI team had the players to do much better in the tournament (Photo: Observer file)

South Africa’s Ryan Rickelton (left) and captain Aiden Markram (second left) shake hands with West Indies players Jason Holder (second right) and Quentin Sampson at end of the ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup Super Eight match at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, on February 26, 2026. (Photo: AFP)

Daren Sammy, West Indies head coach (Photo: AFP)