Deadline day for Red Force coaching job

THURSDAY is the deadline for all candidates to apply for the TT Red Force head coaching position.

Several candidates have informed local media over the past few weeks that they have applied for the top post in local cricket.

Mervyn Dillon’s contract ends on Thursday. Dillon, who has reapplied for the job, expressed confidence that he will be rehired.

In early April, shortly after the TT Cricket Board started to advertise for the position, Dillon told Newsday, “I am quite confident. I think I am probably in a better position than anybody else to retain the job.”

Dillon was hired in January 2019, replacing former national all-rounder Kelvin Williams.

Dillon, who focuses a lot on fitness, has made some strides as coach of the Red Force.

After four rounds of competition in the 2019 West Indies Four-Day Championship, Williams stepped down as coach after starting the season with three losses and one win when Dillon stepped in.

Dillon, a former West Indies fast bowler, led the team to a fourth-place finish as the team recorded three wins, one draw and two losses in the remaining six matches under his guidance. At the end of 2019, Red Force stormed into the semi-finals of the Colonial Medical Insurance 50-Over tournament with seven wins in eight matches in Group B. However, Red Force lost in the semi-finals by four wickets to the Leeward Islands Hurricanes.

In the recently concluded 2020 West Indies Four-Day Championship, Red Force finished second to champions Barbados Pride. Dillon led the team to three wins, two losses and three draws in eight matches before the competition ended. The final two rounds were cancelled because of the covid19 pandemic.

Former national cricketer Imran Jan is also enthusiastic about the opportunity to coach the Red Force.

Jan has been an assistant coach of the Trinbago Knight Riders in the Hero Caribbean Premier League for six years, helping the team to titles in 2015, 2017 and 2018.

He is currently a coach at Queen’s Park Cricket Club, where he also coached in previous years.

Jan also spent nine years as a coach at the University of TT. “I have expressed my interest in the (Red Force) position and what I can bring to the table with regards to my experiences,” Jan told Newsday earlier this month.

Former West Indies leg spinner Samuel Badree informed local media that he is interested in the job.

Badree, the former top-ranked T20 bowler in the world, has had a couple of stints in coaching.

In 2019, Badree was hired as the spin coach for the Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League, becoming the first West Indian to coach in the T20 league.

Before his IPL stint, he also guided young spinners in Australia after being hired by Cricket Australia.

The region also recognized Badree’s coaching ability as the Windward Islands Volcanoes offered the leg spinner the head coaching job last year, but he had to turn it down because of work commitments.

More people have applied for the job, but many of them have not made it public.