THE West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has moved a step closer to finding a full-time team manager.
After having an interim manager for more than a year, the board has arrived at a shortlist of five candidates and interviews are expected to be conducted shortly.
Investigations by the WEEKEND NATION revealed that Colin Borde, the Trinidad and Tobago team manager since 2008 and a former long-standing senior manager at the ANSA McAL group of companies, was among the front-runners for the job.
It is believed the WICB attracted about 40 applications for the position by the September 10 deadline in response to an advertisement on its website.
It was anticipated that the incumbent would have been on the job for the ongoing tour of Sri Lanka but the WICB has now arrived at its shortlist which includes no non-Caribbean persons.
The five candidates will be interviewed by telephone after which the list will be reduced to three contenders who will have face-to-face interviews with the WICB’s human resources committee.
When contacted yesterday, Borde confirmed he had sent in an application but said he had not been informed he was on the shortlist.
“I am happy to hear that I have been considered. Being on the shortlist is brilliant. I am willing to serve in any capacity the WICB wants me,” he said.
“My passion has always been cricket. It is something that is difficult to get away from. I’ve been involved in the administration of cricket for a long time.
“It will be an honour to get a chance to serve West Indies cricket and its emergence and if given the chance, I’d be more than happy.”
Borde, who is involved in the real estate industry, has a wide range of administrative experience in cricket, having served in varying capacities.
He is a member of the WICB’s marketing committee and is also a member of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board of Control where has been a member of the clubs development committee and chairman of the National Cricket League.
The previous full-time West Indies team manager was Borde’s fellow Trinidadian Omar Khan, who was appointed to the position in March 2008 before he was assigned to the Under-19 team in August last year in preparation for ICC Youth Cup in New Zealand earlier this year.
In Khan’s absence, former West Indies off-spinner Lance Gibbs filled in as manager for the ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa in September 2009 and former West Indies fast bowler and current WICB director Joel Garner was appointed in the position for a Test tour of Australia later in the year and a series of One-Day matches to the same country earlier this year.
After Khan returned from his Under-19 duties, Garner continued to serve as West Indies manager for home series against Zimbabwe and South Africa, and the ICC World Twenty20 in the Caribbean.
Khan, who performed duties as West Indies “A” team manager for a home series this year, resigned as a WICB employee in April.
In advertising for the job, the WICB said the new manager would report to the head coach and the director of cricket and would be responsible for managing the operational and logistical requirements of the West Indies team.
