With The Bahamas senior men’s national cricket team looking to qualify for the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Twenty Twenty (T20) World Cup, the Bahamas Cricket Association (BCA) went and sought one of the best available coaches on the cricket scene, the experienced Andy Moles.
Moles, who hails from England, has been in The Bahamas for a month working with the team at Haynes Oval. BCA President Greg Taylor Sr. said it was important to find a good coach to help the team. Moles is an ICC Level 4 coach.
“It’s of the utmost importance,” Taylor said. “I had a friend who was a level three coach in England. I wanted him but he was unavailable and he told me he will check something and get back to me later. Ten minutes later, he called me and said one of his best friends who he played county cricket with is living in South Africa and his name is Andy Moles and he told me to call him.”
The Bahamas is set to play in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Americas from November 2-12 in Antigua and Barbuda. It has been a tough few weeks in training with rain interrupting the team’s practices.
“We’ve had a bit of rain over the past few days, which has curtailed quite a bit of practice,” Moles said. “It’s been frustrating for us. One thing, there’s a love and a passion for the game here, which is good to see. The most frustrating thing for the players is due to COVID. That is out of their hands. The government has to put restrictions in place, and they have, and the players haven’t played any game for 18 months to two years. Internationally, they haven’t played for over four years, so they’re very rusty and we are trying to re-teach good habits, so in practice, I’ve been hitting them hard and making sure that they get more fit.”
Before taking on the coaching duties of the Bahamian national team, Moles was coaching the Afghanistan national team. He has also coached Kenyan,
Scotland, New Zealand, England under-19, Hong Kong and Argentinian teams. He has coached for over 20 years and has played professionally for 14 years, accumulating nearly 35 years’ experience of playing and coaching at the top level.
The Bahamian team trains three mornings per week and return in the afternoon for more training sessions. Moles understands that the men are not professionals, so he has to work around the players’ work schedule.
The Bahamas has the lowest rank among the eight teams that are in the competition. Unfortunately, for The Bahamas, they have not played in an ICC tournament in almost 12 years, and as a result, has dropped in the rankings. The other teams in the tournament are the USA, Canada, Argentina, Belize, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and Panama.
Originally, the tournament was scheduled to take place August 18-24, 2020, but was postponed due to the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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source https://thenassauguardian.com/new-direction-for-team-bahamas/
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