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CRICKET West Indies (CWI) has roped in Brian Lara as a performance mentor to work with the West Indies international teams across formats and with the board’s academy.
Lara will be supporting the various head coaches “in providing players with tactical advice and improving their game sense, as well as working closely with the Director of Cricket (Jimmy Adams) on ICC World Cup Tournament strategic planning,” a CWI press statement said.
“Having spent time with the players and coaches in Australia and in discussions with CWI, I really believe that I can help the players with their mental approach to the game and with their tactics to be more successful,” Lara said.
His first assignment will be with the West Indies Test squad, which he has already joined in Zimbabwe. He will help in the preparations ahead of the first Test starting on February 4 in Bulawayo. Before the Test, West Indies will also play a four-day warm-up game, starting today in Bulawayo.
“I am really looking forward to Brian making a significant contribution to our cricket system by providing invaluable guidance and advice to our players and coaches,” Adams said. “We are confident that Brian will help to improve our high-performance mindset and strategic culture that will bring us more success on the field across all formats. Everyone is excited to have Brian involved in supporting our players.”
West Indies’ last Test series was in Australia last month, where they were swept 2-0, not long after they had crashed out in the first round of the T20 World Cup. Nicholas Pooran stepped down as the white-ball captain later, in November.
Lara was also on the review panel which CWI had appointed to look into West Indies’ poor performance at the T20 World Cup.
Even though CWI did not specify for how long Lara would work with the various teams going forward, he came in with under ten months to go for the ODI World Cup in India and around 18 months before the T20 World Cup in the USA and Caribbean next year.
In between, of course, Lara will also be engaged with Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 2023 IPL as their head coach, having taken over from Tom Moody in September last year. — ESPNCricinfo
Online Reporter