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by Ezra Stuart
Former
West Indies coach Roger Harper says he accepted the job as head
coach of the Shell Cricket Academy of the St George's University
because he wants to continue making a contribution to the future
development of regional cricket.
"I
think it involves the development of West Indies cricket to which
I’m very committed and I think that here at the Academy I have a
tremendous opportunity to make a contribution to the future of
West Indies cricket," Harper said in an interview in the
Spice Island.
"I
think we have to understand that the strength of West Indies
cricket lies in our grassroots and I think if we can have more
quality players playing for West Indies and in our reserves we
have a greater chance of achieving our goal of returning to the
top of West Indies cricket," Harper reasoned.
Harper
also explained the reason for coaches taking the players out of
their comfort zone.
"Well,
initially that’s the objective but what we want to do at the end
of it is give them a much higher comfort zone so that they can
operate under levels of immense pressure and still be very
successful," Harper pointed out.
The
former Guyana captain and West Indies' off-spinner, who spent the
last three years coaching the West Indies Test and One-Day side
said this experience should serve him well in his new job as he
tries to harness the skills of two dozen young players, drawn from
the various Caribbean territories.
"I
see here an opportunity to increase the quality of West Indies
cricket to bring my experience gathered at the international level
as coach of the West Indies team and impart some of that knowledge
to these young players," Harper said.
Noting
there is plenty of talented cricketers in the West Indies, Harper
said it is vital that they are drilled in the fundamentals of the
game.
"We
are all aware of the fact that West Indian players have a
tremendous amount of natural ability. What we want to do is refine
that and develop and instil the basics. Give them better
fundamentals, so increase our technical efficiency," Harper
asserted.
"But
even more important than that is to teach them to manage that
ability because when the top situations arise they must know how
to use the skills they have effectively and at the end of this
programme we expect them to be very capable of doing that,"
added Harper.
Speaking
from a more philosophical perspective, Harper said the mental
skills are one of biggest deficiencies facing West Indian players.
"What
I want to say to the young fellas here, their goal mustn’t be to
make a West Indies team. No, and we have to stop telling our
players that.
Their
goal must be to take West Indies cricket back to the top and that
means aiming to be the best player in the world," Harper
said.
Harper
said he is pleased to have former Barbados wicketkeeper Darnley
Boxhill and former West Indian fast bowler Kenny Benjamin working
with him at the Academy.
"These
coaches bring special skills which will be utilised to the fullest
in an effort to develop these players to their full
potential," Harper said.
Commenting
on the just ended four-match Test series, which Australia won 3-1,
Harper agreed that there is a ray of hope for the West Indies,
particularly from the young players.
"Well
certainly, there’s always been a little light peeking through at
the end of the tunnel," Harper said.
"We’ve
seen the young players, we’ve seen what they are capable of --
the young batsmen in particular. The fact that they have been
producing, maybe not collectively often enough, but we knew that
they were very capable and to see them deliver against a team the
quality of the Australian team was really tremendous to
watch," Harper remarked.
Harper
said he was happy that 20-year-old Anguillan Omari Banks came into
the Test team and made an immediate impact.
"I
think it was a tremendous performance by him. He’s always shown
that he has great composure and that, along with his ability, got
him through in the end," Harper said.
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