BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - FOLLOWING the announcement by the SKN Patriots last week that star batsman Chris Gayle is heading to Basseterre, former West Indies Head Coach Phil Simmons will do the same.
Simmons, who made headlines earlier this year when he had his contract with the regional side terminated on the eve of the Windies tour to Pakistan, will be the Head Coach of the St. Kitts-Nevis Patriots when the league bowls off in the middle of 2017.
In a statement released today (Dec. 22) by the Patriots to make the announcement, co-owner of the team Uday Nayak said, "We are happy to announce that Phil Simmons is the new head coach of the SKN Patriots. We expect that Phil’s experience and local knowledge will help the Patriots achieve improved performances in our 2017 Hero CPL campaign, and will bring the ultimate success that our fans and sponsors deserve”.
Since the Patriots franchise was relocated to St. Kitts from Antigua and Barbuda, they have found the going tough as they had finished at the bottom or close to the bottom of the league table over the past two years.
According to the Patriots’ statement, Nayak described Simmons as “the right coaching choice at this very crucial time in the development of our Franchise”.
Simmons expressed delight on taking up the role as head coach of the Patriots.
“I would like to thank the owners and management for offering me this exciting opportunity to lead the squad. I am aware of the immediate challenges we are facing and I will do all possible to ensure that we achieve improved results.”
Speaking with SKNVibes Sports, Chief Operations Officer (COO) for the Patriots, Richard Berridge explained that based on the vision and stagnation of the team’s performance, it was time for them to invest in new players.
He said that the team did not improve on its first-year performance, which is a major factor in their new signings.
“Well, we are going into our third year now and we have not been able to achieve the desired results. If you look at our performance over the two years, we actually did not improve on our first year.
“I think any team that is able to acquire a player such as Chris Gayle at any point, even coming off of a championship year, you would want a player of that calibre in your line up for various reason - commercial reasons, cricketing reasons, filling stadiums et cetera.”
Additionally, the COO stated that management believed that there was need for new leadership for the team, and against that backdrop they took on the services of the Phil Simmons.
Speaking to the feedback from Gayle’s signing, Berridge pointed out that it has been “excellent” as the local fans and those in the Diaspora have been excited to hear of Gayle’s enlistment.
“As you know, this league is a franchise game and we are able to acquire players from anywhere. Even the fans in the cricketing world, those in India, Pakistan and other areas have been excited.”
The management team of the Patriots are expected to make another announcement shortly on the players who they have retained for the 2017 season.
