Cricket West Indies appoints Roland Butcher as new selector

Cricket West Indies (CWI) on Dec. 23 announced the appointment of Roland Butcher as a selector to the West Indies Men’s Senior & Youth Panels.

Butcher is a former England batsman, who also played for over 15 years in English County Cricket with Middlesex.

CWI said Butcher’s appointment was confirmed during a meeting of the CWI Board of Directors on Dec. 19.

“It is a great honor and a privilege to be given the opportunity to serve West Indies Cricket,” Butcher said. “I’m eager to get started to work alongside the other members of the selection panels, as we look to ensure the growth and improvement in West Indies cricket at all levels.”

The West Indies Men’s Senior Panel is led by Barbadian Desmond Haynes, and the Men’s Youth Panel is led by Jamaican Robert Haynes.

The third member of both panels is the respective Head Coach.

West Indies currently have Andre Coley in that position on an interim basis following the resignation of Phil Simmons, according to ESPNcricinfo.

CWI said Butcher was the first Black cricketer to represent England in Test cricket, when he debuted against West Indies in his native Barbados in 1981.

He played three Tests and three One-Day Internationals. In his first-class career, he played 277 matches and scored over 12,000 runs, CWI said.

After his playing career – 277 first-class games and 271 List A games, the bulk of them for Middlesex – ESPNcricinfo said Butcher “went into coaching, not just cricket but football, too, earning UEFA coaching badges along the way.”

ESPNcricinfo said Butcher was Bermuda’s head coach from 2000 to 2001, and, in 2004, was appointed director of sports at the University of the West Indies in Barbados.