Cricket West Indies (CWI) has appointed experienced New Zealand coach Bob Carter as its batting consultant on a one-year tenure. He will work to raise batting standards across all CWI programmes ahead of the 2027 World Cup Qualifier.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) has appointed experienced New Zealand coach Bob Carter as its batting consultant, with his initial one-year tenure aimed at raising batting standards across the West Indies and strengthening the regional coaching system ahead of a crucial period of international competition. Carter officially took charge on September 1, 2026, and will work across CWI’s men’s, women’s and age-group programmes.
Strategic Appointment for World Cup Push
His appointment comes at an important juncture, with the West Indies set to compete in the Men’s ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier in February-March 2027 before entering the preparation window for the World Cup, as per the CWI website. His first assignment will be a regional tour later this month, taking him across all six first-class territories – Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, the Leeward Islands and the Windward Islands – where he will work directly with players and coaches.
Dual-Focus Mandate
Carter’s mandate will centre on two key areas: providing specialist technical support to elite and emerging batters, while strengthening the ability of regional and high-performance coaches to design and implement effective individual batting programmes. He will work closely with coaches to enhance the support available to elite players returning to their respective territories, while also collaborating with CWI’s High-Performance team to develop batting modules for integration into the regional coaching pathway, ensuring they reach coaches at all levels.
"West Indies cricket has a proud tradition of producing outstanding batsmen, and my job is to help build the base to produce future generations of world-class players,” said Carter. “My focus has always been on supporting players and coaches to reach their full potential, and I am looking forward to working alongside the regional and high-performance coaches to help achieve that."
A Wealth of Experience
Carter brings more than 30 years of elite coaching experience, most recently serving as High-Performance Coach with New Zealand Cricket from 2012 to 2025, where he supported international and domestic player development, performance planning and talent identification. He also served as Head Coach of the New Zealand Women’s team from 2019 to 2022, and twice as the Men’s Assistant Coach, alongside previous head coaching roles with Canterbury and Wellington, and as Director of Cricket at Northamptonshire County Cricket Club in England.
Long-Term Vision for Coaching
CWI Director of Cricket Miles Bascombe said the appointment is aimed at improving the regional coaching system as much as the players. "West Indies teams will participate in at least 6 global events over the next 24-30 months, including the Men’s World Cup Qualifier next February. The steps we take now are intended to lay the groundwork for success. Bob’s immediate job is to raise the technical standard heading into these events,” said Bascombe.
“But the measure of this appointment is not what our top six look like in twelve months. It is whether the coaches he works with come out of it better at teaching batting than they went in, and whether that reaches the coaching education modules the rest of the region is taught from. That is what lasts," Miles Bascombe said. (ANI)
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