West Indies sack team manager Ricky Skerritt

West Indies team manager Ricky Skerritt has been sacked by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), he confirmed to Reuters on Monday.

Skerritt was sacked by the Board's chief executive Gregory Shillingford and told not attend the team's training camp in Trinidad ahead of the forthcoming tour of Zimbabwe and Kenya.

"I was e-mailed by CEO Gregory Shillingford and I was told that a letter of termination would follow," Skerritt told Reuters by telephone from his home in St Kitts.

The WICB said in a statement that last Friday that Skerritt "was contacted and directed not to participate in the training camp in Trinidad".

"At that time, he was also informed that a letter of termination of his contract would be sent to him within seven days," Shillingford said.

"The WICB held a series of meetings last week and, after further meetings are concluded, the WICB will make an overall statement on the management team for our cricket tour to Zimbabwe and Kenya," Shillingford added.

Skerritt was axed after a series of poor performances by the West Indies who have recently struggled to find any form.

They lost their home test series to South Africa 2-1 earlier this month and were also beaten 5-2 in the one-day series.

Skerritt is the latest high profile casualty in the Windies camp after team psychologist Joe Hoad claimed last Thursday that he had resigned after criticising the attitude of the players.

Skerritt said Hoad did not resign and that he had told him four weeks previously that his services would not be requied beyond his 11-week contract. Skerritt said Hoad was angry with him for not recommending that he be re-hired.

TRAINING CAMP

Director of coaching, Reg Scarlett, is in charge of the two-week training camp in Trinidad, which began on Monday, with help from team physiotherapist Ronald Rogers.

Former players Andy Roberts and Gordon Greenidge have been recruited as bowling and batting coaches respectively.

Some 22 players are attending the session from which a 16-man squad will be selected for a two-test series against the hosts and a triangular one-day series also involving India.

Captain Carl Hooper and leg-spinner Dinanath Ramnarine missed the opening session.

Hooper's baggage went missing from his American Airlines flight from Miami on Sunday, while Ramnarine was given a week to celebrate after his marriage in Port of Spain on Sunday.

Ramnarine will join the camp next Monday but Hooper is expected to start training on Tuesday.

Coach Roger Harper, who has been in Zimbabwe to get first hand experience of what West Indies can expect when they reach the African continent, will also join up on Tuesday.

West Indies team for the African tour is expected to be announced on Thursday with the Board having already approved the nomination of Carl Hooper as captain.

Mail Cricket Editor