SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates – Former Barbados and West Indies all-rounder Vasbert Drakes has been appointed as the new coach of the UAE cricket team, the Emirates Cricket Board has announced.
 
After similar duties with is home country Barbados this past season, Drakes will replace Kabir Khan coach.
 
“Khan wanted to attend a Level-4 coaching course in Scotland and had stepped down,” said Mazhar Khan, the administrator of the Emirates Cricket Board.
 
Khan said Drakes has been “very successful as a coach after his playing days” and will take charge of the UAE team from May 10.
 
The 38-year-old played professionally in South Africa and England and his international career ended four years ago. He only has a few weeks to prepare UAE for his first major assignment in charge, the Asia Cup in June.
 
“His immediate task will be to prepare the UAE team for the prestigious Asia Cup to be held in June in Pakistan,” said Khan.
 
As a player, Drakes made his international debut in 1995 at the age of 24 by playing in five One-day International (ODI) games against Australia and England.
 
His professional contracts in South Africa restricted his appearances for the West Indies and he endured a seven-year absence from the West Indies outfit until 2002.
 
He fought his way back at age 33 through good performance as a medium pacer for Barbados and in county cricket.
 
Drakes played 12 Tests and 34 ODIs for West Indies.
 
He represented a plethora of county teams in England — Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Sussex and Warwickshire among them — and in the winter months he played for Border in South Africa.
 
Drakes took 33 wickets in Tests and 51 wickets in One-dayers.
 
He was also useful as a lower order batsman and hit an unbeaten 27 when West Indies chased a world record target of 418 runs to beat world champions Australia in the fourth Test match in Antigua in their 2003 series.
 
In recent months, Drakes coached Barbados in their regional assignments — including the Carib Beer series and the Stanford Twenty20 tournament – in the absence of regular coach Hendy Springer, who was attached to the West Indies team..