ANDRE Coley, who recently resigned as Jamaica Scorpions head coach, says he remains “available” to guide local players, even while in charge of Cricket West Indies (CWI) Emerging Players Academy and the West Indies A team.

“It [resigning] is bittersweet, because I had taken on the Jamaica role looking to add some value,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

“Everybody wants to be a part of their national set-up, whether as a player or a coach, so it’s with mixed feelings that I’m actually leaving. But I’m confident it’s left in more than capable hands to help move things forward,” the Jamaican added in reference to his likely successor.

“I’ll still be based in Jamaica… and I’ll still be available to assist Jamaica in any way possible,” said Coley, who had taken the Scorpions job in September 2019 after previously coaching Windward Islands Volcanoes.

Two weeks ago Jamaica Cricket Association Chief Executive Officer Courtney Francis told the Observer that Andrew Richardson, who served as the Scorpions assistant coach, was being lined up to fill the vacancy.

Though not winning a regional title as the Scorpions head coach, Coley argued there was success, particularly in the batting department.

“Our bowling had always held its own, but there was a lot of concern around the batting. And I believe that over the two seasons we showed some consistency and improvement in that area, if we are going to use the number of centuries as a gauge.

“We had been able to matriculate players into the senior West Indies teams in the white-ball and red-ball formats, which is one of the things we targeted. We were not able to win a regional championship — obviously that’s a sore point,” he said.

Years ago Coley coached at the West Indies High Performance Centre which, like the Emerging Players Academy, was geared at developing young regional cricketers. He has also coached at the senior West Indies level before, serving as assistant for a number of years, spanning tenures of men’s team head coaches Ottis Gibson, Phil Simmons and Stuart Law.

He guided the West Indies Under-19 team at the 2010 World Cup, and at one stage had a role as assistant to the West Indies former women’s team coach Sherwin Campbell.

In the current roles of leading both the academy and West Indies A, the 47-year-old Coley told the Observer it’s a case of picking up where he left off.

“I’ve enjoyed the challenges of both so far and I’m looking to continue to work with the support staff and different players,” he said.

“Following on from the time I spent with the previous academy, which was the High Performance Centre, we really had started to make some impact in terms of the development of players who were identified as the best in the age group between 18 and 23.

“Most of those who went through that academy for a two- to three-year period were able to make the transition to international cricket, though some would argue that they haven’t been consistent and they haven’t all distinguished themselves. I jumped at it because it was another opportunity to be involved in a similar programme which I was enjoying at the time,” he explained.

Earlier this month the West Indies A team hosted Bangladesh A in unofficial Test and One-Day matches.

The rain-affected two-match ‘Test’ series ended nil-all, while the teams split the three 50-over contests 1-1 after the final encounter was rained out.

“With West Indies A I was asked to lead the team engaged with Bangladesh A. We’re trying to resuscitate the A team programme and make it more consistent in a similar way to international tours and so on. This is the beginning of this kind of movement,” Coley said.

— Sanjay Myers