Logie under fire to keep his job

Logie under fire to keep his job


Vinode Mamchan
Published: Guardian
Monday, December 26, 2016

T&T coach Gus Logie
National Head coach Gus Logie is under pressure to retain his position in the new year, as the executive of the T&T Cricket Board (TTCB) will meet with him next week to discuss the national team’s performance in the Digicel WICB Professional cricket league.

After a winning start against the Windwards Hurricanes at home, the team has played badly and are now lodged at the bottom of the six-team standings into the Christmas break. Gus Logie’s men find themselves on 35.6 points after five matches - 32 points behind leaders Jamaica Scorpions.

Sources close to the TTCB say that some top men in the executive are very upset with the team’s position and they are willing to part ways with the former West Indies batsman. However, there is still support for him amongst some Board members and they might not want to make a change with the Regional Super50 so close at hand.

The national team has been preparing for the Regional Super50 daily at the National Cricket Centre (NCC) since their arrival from Guyana under the eyes of assistant coaches Kelvin Williams and David Williams.

The Guardian understands that some members of the executive are in favour of David Williams taking over, as they are of the view that under him T&T enjoyed their most successful period in regional cricket between the years 2006 to 2011.

TTCB second vice-president Patrick Rampersad told Guardian that as far as he knows Logie is still the man at the helm. He said, “We have had no discussion as far as Gus Logie is concerned. As far as I know Gus is still the man in charge of the national team and he will be working with the players as they prepare for the Regional Super50. We have had no discussions as far as removing Gus from his position. We intend to meet with him soonest to hold dialogue as far as what has happened before but no decision has been made to remove him. That is an executive decision and no meeting has been called to discuss him removal.

“We are all disappointed over the results we have gotten in the First Class tournament and we are about looking to continue to put things right for the team.” Earlier in the week, TTCB president, Azim Bassarath sounded a very disappointed man :”The coach got everything that he asked for in terms of preparations for this series and at this moment we at the TTCB are very very disappointed.”

The former South East chairman said that the TTCB executive will meet with the management of the team soon. “The executive will meet with management team just after the holidays, to see what can be done to improve the performance.”

Bassarath pointed to mental preparations as one possible factor in the team’s poor showing :”Mental preparation is important and I am of the view that they were not mentally prepared before the tournament. We have to understand that the players are very young and with all the stars missing, they are new to the scene and would have needed that mental preparation going into a regional battle. Also we have Yannick Ottley leading the team for the first time and we are not sure if the burden of leadership has affected his batting.

“I am sure the coach and manager can have answers to these questions when we meet with them and they can then make the required recommendations.”

The T&TCB needs to resign . >