The odds on a player from the Caribbean arriving at Kent in England this season are tumbling after new head coach Jimmy Adams admitted to expecting first refusal on West Indies talent looking for a move to county cricket.
.. The Jamaican, who turned 44 on Monday, was officially unveiled as the successor to Paul Farbrace at the St Lawrence Ground last week. Kent have made only tentative progress so far in searching for potential overseas players for this summer, but Adams’ contacts are likely to come in useful.
The West Indies are in England at the start of the season, before hosting New Zealand in a tour which lasts until early August. While it would make their internationals unavailable until the final weeks of the county season, it is a period which includes five LV County Championship games, the climax to the Clydesdale Bank 40 group stage and the Friends Life t20 finals day.
Adams admitted the schedule would be a hindrance, but the former West Indies skipper did not dismiss the idea. “With the sort of itineraries that these international players have I don’t know how easy it is for any international player now to commit to a full season of county cricket,” he said.
“It’s so full, the itineraries, for every country. It’s good to have a line at least into one team internationally where if there are players available and willing then you’d expect to have right of first refusal.”
Possible players he may be looking at include all-rounder Dwayne Bravo who has played for Kent before, his brother Darren who is a brilliant batsman and Kirk Edwards and Adrian Barath who have excelled for West Indies but could use the experience of the English game to polish their craft.
Adams returned to Jamaica and will not be back in the United Kingdom to take up his new post in earnest until obtaining visa clearance. Despite holding a variety of cricketing roles in retirement, it will be the first senior head coaching role for Adams, who acknowledged there will be an element of the unknown.
He said: “I have done a tremendous amount of work over the years with the Jamaican national team, I’ve toured with them as manager and assistant coach over the last three or four years, but in terms of being the gaffer, yes it will be a little bit of a leap.”
The lack of coaching pedigree meant the former Nottinghamshire player was barely mentioned in the rumours about the potential candidates for the job. His philosophy quickly appealed in the rigorous selection process, though, impressing Jamie Clifford, Kent’s chief executive.
He said: “Jimmy gets across his passion very well. He cares about creating a culture. Everything seemed to chime, in a sense we didn’t brief him on who we were or where we were but he seemed to fit with our here and now.”
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