Gibson wants full-time batting coach - States pleasure with Adams' contribution to T20 World Cup

Roseau, Dominica:

West Indies head coach Ottis Gibson says that a batting coach is a critical post in his support staff and he is hoping to fill the position following the Digicel Series 2010 against South Africa.

"At the end of this Digicel Series we will sit down and look at what I believe my ideal coaching staff to be, and that will include a batting coach for the long term," Gibson told reporters on the eve of yesterday's third Digicel one-day international.

Gibson, who took over as head coach at the start of the year, praised the work of former West Indies captain Jimmy Adams, who served as Windies batting coach during the recently concluded ICC World Twenty20 Championship.

"Jimmy came in and did a very good job, and I will sit down with the CEO (Dr Ernest Hilaire) and put together that coaching staff and a batting coach will certainly be high on the agenda," Gibson reiterated, as he stopped just short of identifying Adams as the man he would like to be installed in the position on a permanent basis.

Game-changing instance

The West Indies batting failed them the first four games of the Digicel series, as they were unable to chase 136 and 120 in the two Twenty20s and lost by 66 and 17 runs, respectively, in the two ODIs.

Gibson said that the batsmen in particular were not thinking through situations properly, and identified the loss of top scorer Dwayne Bravo's wicket as one such game-changing instance in the previous Digicel ODI.

"(In the third ODI) Bravo got out to the last ball of an over that had conceded 13 runs and it was the last ball of a bowler's spell. Those little things we need to get better at," Gibson reasoned.

Bravo made 74 and, just as he and Darren Sammy were formulating a seventh-wicket partnership, he got out to the final ball of Dale Steyn's spell. Sammy blasted a whirlwind half century which took the West Indies close to victory, but he eventually ran out of batting partners.

Poor thinking

Gibson said the batsmen were getting starts, but were not following through and he blamed poor thinking for their demise.

"We've created winning opportunities. Before you win, you have to create the opportunity to win. Those opportunities have not been strong enough. We have not thought through well enough," Gibson reasoned.

He argued that the West Indies team is on par with the South Africans in terms of talent but that in terms of application at the crease they were lagging behind.

"Talent-wise we're not far behind South Africa, thinking-wise - we're showing that we're very far behind," Gibson said.

Jimmy Adams (left) observes as West Indies pacer Ravi Rampaul runs in to bowl during a training session at the just-concluded T20 World Cup. - Contributed

Gibson