Cricket West Indies (CWI) has appointed experienced New Zealand coach Bob Carter as its Batting Consultant, with his initial one-year engagement aimed at improving batting standards and strengthening the regional coaching system.
Carter officially began the role on September 1 and will work across CWI’s men’s, women’s and age-group programmes. His appointment comes as West Indies prepare for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier in February and March 2027, followed by the World Cup preparation window.
His first assignment will be a regional tour later this month covering all six first-class territories—Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, the Leeward Islands and the Windward Islands. He will work directly with players and coaches during the tour.
Carter’s role will focus on providing specialist technical support to elite and emerging batters. He will also help regional and high-performance coaches design and deliver effective individual batting programmes.
“West Indies cricket has a proud tradition of producing outstanding batsmen, and my job is to help build the base to produce future generations of world-class players,” said Carter. “My focus has always been on supporting players and coaches to reach their full potential, and I am looking forward to working alongside the regional and high-performance coaches to help achieve that.”
Carter will work closely with coaches to improve the support given to elite players when they return to their respective territories. He will also collaborate with CWI’s High-Performance team to develop batting modules that can be incorporated into the regional coaching pathway and used by coaches at every level.
The New Zealander brings more than 30 years of elite coaching experience to the Caribbean. He most recently served as High-Performance Coach with New Zealand Cricket from 2012 to 2025, supporting international and domestic player development, performance planning and talent identification.
Carter was also head coach of the New Zealand Women’s team from 2019 to 2022 and twice served as assistant coach of the New Zealand men’s team. His previous positions also include head-coaching roles with Canterbury and Wellington and a stint as Director of Cricket at Northamptonshire County Cricket Club in England.
CWI Director of Cricket Miles Bascombe said the appointment is intended to improve the regional coaching structure as well as the performances of West Indies batters.
“West Indies teams will participate in at least 6 global events over the next 24-30 months, including the Men’s World Cup Qualifier next February. The steps we take now are intended to lay the groundwork for success. Bob’s immediate job is to raise the technical standard heading into these events,” said Bascombe.
“But the measure of this appointment is not what our top six look like in twelve months. It is whether the coaches he works with come out of it better at teaching batting than they went in, and whether that reaches the coaching education modules the rest of the region is taught from. That is what lasts.”
The appointment forms part of CWI’s wider technical development programme. It follows work by the Cricket Strategy and Officiating Committee, which identified specialist technical intervention and improvements to the regional coaching system as priorities for West Indies cricket.
Carter’s upcoming tour will allow him to assess the batting talent and coaching needs throughout the region while laying the foundation for a coordinated technical programme to support players across the regional pathway.
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