BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) – Director of the West Indies High Performance Centre (HPC), Toby Radford has suddenly parted ways with the academy less than a year following its unveiling. Radford, who was serving a two-year contract at the HPC based at the 3Ws Oval here, has returned to his native England to pursue a career as a specialist batting coach, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) said Wednesday.
Radford’s assistant, Jamaican Andre Coley, will take over as head coach for the upcoming semester beginning May 1 before a permanent replacement is found.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the High Performance players and other West Indies senior teams,” Radford said.
“There is a wealth of cricketing talent emerging across the Caribbean and the future for West Indies cricket looks extremely encouraging.
“It has been a privilege to set up the High Performance Centre for the WICB – facilities, staffing and coaching programme – and to see the players performing so well, so quickly on the back of all their hard work and dedication.”
WICB chief executive Ernest Hilaire said Radford had made a “significant” contribution to the youth programme in the Caribbean.
“The WICB was pleased to have Toby serve as HPC Director,” Hilaire said.
“He worked assiduously in setting up the operations of the HPC and contributed significantly to the development of several of the players and we have seen the results of these in the performances of these players in regional tournaments.”
The 36-year-old Coley, meanwhile, will be a strong candidate to replace Radford. He is a former Jamaica first class wicketkeeper who coached the West Indies Under-19s at the Youth World Cup in New Zealand last year.
A qualified Level Three coach, he was also in charge of the Jamaica youth team that won the Regional Under-19 Championship double two years ago.