ST JOHN’S, Antigua, Nov 11, CMC – Batting consultant Bob Carter has maintained that there are plenty talented batters in the region that just need to be developed.
He made the comments following the conclusion of Cricket West Indies’ (CWI) month-long High-Performance Batting Tour.
“It’s a bit of a cliché, but it’s been a great journey. What I have found is that there are a lot of talented and skilled players to work with on the batting front.
Carter, along with CWI’s High-Performance coach Rohan Nurse, spearheaded the effort, which ran from September 24 to October 26 and reached 67 emerging batters and 64 territorial coaches across the Windward Islands, Barbados, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and the Leeward Islands.
Carter said he was not only impressed by the abundance of talent, but also the willingness of the participants to learn.
“The senior team is well run and organised. My job is to come in and see what’s underneath, to be able to supply players to feed into that team and at all senior levels.
“It’s a bit of a cliché, but it’s been a great journey. What I have found is that there are a lot of talented and skilled players to work with on the batting front,” Carter said.
“The common strengths are no different from what I’ve seen around the world. I think my biggest takeaway from the tour has been the players’ buy-in and their desire to learn. So, from my perspective as a batting coach, it’s been really welcoming to see how everyone has bought into what we’re trying to do.”
Carter also commended the territorial coaches who worked alongside him at each camp.
“I couldn’t speak highly enough of the coaches. They all came along with an open mind and were all very keen to get involved and get hands-on throughout the programme. They would’ve heard everything I’ve spoken about many times before, but the key is for them to use this opportunity to add something to their coaching repertoire,” he said.
“The key is to make sure you have that relationship with your player. Make sure you can meet to have regular sessions with them and really test them out. It’s not about having nice, easy sessions; it’s all about testing the player, getting them out of their comfort zones and getting them working on their technique.”
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