KINGSTON, Jamaica,(CMC) – Gus Logie will become the new Jamaica coach on December 1. The Jamaica Observer newspaper reported yesterday that the West Indies and Bermuda coach will replace Junior Bennett in the position. Long-serving physical trainer Dave Bernard Sr father of current West Indies A-Team captain Dave Bernard Jr, will also be replaced.
The shake-up comes following recommendations from national technical director Jimmy Adams to the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) executive committee.
“No one from the JCA has given a reason exactly why, and I haven’t discussed this with Jimmy as yet, but I have been informed via a phone call that this is the decision,” Bennett told the newspaper.
Bennett is expected to continue in the role until the end of the month, but he noted he is currently out-of-contract, and the JCA would have to make a new arrangement.
“(Jimmy) sent an e-mail asking if I could facilitate a transitional period because Logie starts on December 1, and the team is in training now,” said Bennett.
“So I told him that I don’t have a contract with the JCA right now, but if something can be ironed out, I’m willing to facilitate the process because it’s our cricket, so I’m willing to help out.
“Once the terms are outlined, I have no problem working in that transitional period. These are players that I’ve been working with for years, and what I do is for Jamaica’s cricket and its cricketers.”
Bennett has been conditioning the national team, since taking over from current West Indies selector Robert Haynes four years ago.
He has overseen a period in which Jamaica have been crowned as WICB Regional first-class champions for the last three years.
But the team has had limited success in the shorter forms of the game, with last July’s Caribbean Twenty20 Championship, and last month’s WICB Regional One-day competition being the latest examples, which may have pushed JCA officials over the edge.
“I’m not a person to be surprised about things in life,” he said. “My philosophy is that you make a contribution in whatever you are doing, but always be aware that there is a point in life when you are not going to be the one to make that contribution.”
The 50-year-old Logie, a former Trinidad & Tobago captain and West Indies batsman, is now expected to conclude the national team’s preparations for the CT20 next January, and the subsequent WICB Regional first-class championship.
After retiring from the game in 1993, Logie moved into coaching, and he took charge of a number of West Indies development sides.
Canada gave him his first major coaching job, when he took their national team to the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.
He was appointed West Indies coach that same year, after the West Indies Cricket Board identified Bennett King, and then fell-out with the Australian over terms and conditions.
It was a difficult period for West Indies cricket, and Logie’s tenure was rarely without criticism.
But he still guided West Indies to victory in the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy in England before he quit “by mutual consent” shortly after returning home.
He then took charge of Bermuda, but inherited a side with deep-rooted problems, not the least being the poor personal discipline of many senior players.
After a poor 2007 World Cup, and several subsequent setbacks, he stepped down after they failed to qualify for the 2011 tournament, leaving with a stinging yet justified attack of the whole set-up.