Andre Coley named West Indies Under-19 coach

Andre Coley has been appointed head coach of the West Indies team for the Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand next January. Coley, 35, a former Jamaica wicketkeeper, played seven first-class matches and 10 List A games.

He was in charge of the regional Under-19 team, which participated alongside senior territorial teams in the recently-concluded President's Cup, albeit with little success. The team failed to win a match in the tournament held in Guyana, but it formed part of their preparations ahead of the U-19 World Cup, to be played from January 15-30.

Coley said the squad, captained by Andre Creary, will recommence its preparations shortly and has practice matches with fellow qualifiers USA and Canada lined up.

Coley's most recent success came when he guided Jamaica to both the regional three-day and limited-over Under-19 titles. Much of his success has been put down to his embracing of technology to assess and resolve finer issues on the strengths and weaknesses of his players and opponents.

He has also taken the WICB Level II coaching course, an international module widely used in all Test-playing nations.