Cricket West Indies announce Shane Deitz as new head coach of women's team

Cricket West Indies (CWI), on Saturday, July 8, announced Shane Deitz as the new head coach of the women's cricket team. Notably, Deitz is currently serving the Netherlands in the same capacity and thus, will be joining the squad in late August ahead of the West Indies Women’s tour of Australia in October. 

Notably, Deitz has vast experience as a former cricketer and has also worked with the Bangladesh team in the past. He is in the coaching business for over a decade now and thus, the board will be delighted to have him on their side in the setup. 

After the appointment, Johnny Grave, CWI’s Chief Executive Officer lauded Deitz and mentioned that he is dynamic, energetic and very familiar with women’s cricket and thus, he expects him to succeed as the head coach of the national team.

“We are pleased to announce Shane as our new West Indies Women’s Head Coach following a robust global recruitment process. Shane is well equipped for the role having coached extensively in both the Men’s and Women’s game, in his native Australia, as well as other parts of the world.

“He is dynamic, energetic, and is very familiar with the requirements of the women’s game. He brings the right skills and experience to drive the team and the women’s game in the West Indies forward,” Grave told CWI.

Have a lot of work to do though as reality is we are behind the top few sides in the world: Deitz

West Indies failed to do well in the last edition of the T20 World Cup and lost to Australia in the semi-finals of the last edition of the ODI World Cup. Thus, the management wanted to shake things up and that’s what Detiz wants to bring to the table. He understands that West Indies is currently lagging in world cricket and wants to help the team to get back to the top.

“We have a lot of work to do though as reality is we are behind the top few sides in the world and we need to bridge that gap and become competitive again to challenge for World Cups in the future.

“I do believe though the nucleus is there to create a world class competitive side and that is what I will aim to do. The standard of women’s cricket is at an all-time high and we need to strive to reach those heights through good planning, a lot of hard work and then executing on the pitch,” Deitz said.