Richard Pybus has said his responsibility as WICB’s new director of cricket is to ensure the domestic cricketers in the region get a greater volume of matches to develop skills that prepare them for the rigours of international cricket. Speaking ahead of the new season of Regional Four Day Tournament, West Indies’ first-class competition, Pybus said he also wanted the teams in the region to develop professional set-ups.

“We need enough volume of games,” Pybus said. “The Nagico Super50 was very exciting, but in reality, we need more games to give players more opportunities to put the numbers together in terms of volume of runs and volume of wickets taken, so they can put pressure on the incumbents in the West Indies set-up and put the selectors under pressure. That is a huge priority for us.

“We want to have professional set-ups like there are overseas in county cricket, state cricket and franchise cricket. We want to have professional set-ups where we have full-time staff who are supporting full-time players and that is the ultimate goal.”

Pybus, who has coached Pakistan and Bangladesh apart from a host of domestic teams around the world, added that there was enough depth of talent in the region and part of his plan was to professionalise the set-up to make sure the players are properly managed. He said such measures were important if West Indies were to compete with other international teams in the coming years.

“That is not going to make us the best side in the World,” Pybus said. “If we were running a race it will be like us catching up to the top sides in the World. That is a key priority for us – to actually get to the starting line, so we can run an equal race.

“We want to have a clear avenue for players who are playing first-class cricket to go on to play international cricket,” he said.

“First-class cricket is not the finishing school for international cricket. Our players need to be learning and growing their game so by the time they get to the international set-up, they will be up to the fitness standard, the skill-sets and the understanding of what is being a professional player.”