By Martin Gough

King coached Queensland to two state titles

Spot the odd man out: England's Duncan Fletcher, Australian John Buchanan and new West Indies coach Bennett King.

Each is an example of the new breed of cricket coach, a man qualified because of what he can teach rather than by what he has achieved as a player.

Fletcher played one-day internationals before Zimbabwe gained Test status and Buchanan turned out in seven games for Queensland.

But King has never even played first-class cricket.

If that were not enough to make any West Indies supporter splutter over his rum and coke, the 39-year-old is not even from the Caribbean.

Australian King is the first non-West Indian to coach the team.

He follows in the footsteps of legends like Rohan Kanhai, Clive Lloyd and Malcolm Marshall - but all of these failed to repeat their success as players.

His appointment - no surprise after a leaked e-mail a week before the announcement - comes after a lengthy period of teeth-gnashing by West Indies cricket authorities.

He will be accountable for the performance of the team and will be judged accordingly Roger Brathwaite WICB chief executive More on King's appointment

West Indies have not beaten a major Test nation away from home since 1995 and have suffered embarrassments hosting England and Australia in the last two years.

They have reached the point where it makes no matter that their new head man graduated only as far as an Australian under-19 training squad as an all-rounder.

He had more success in rugby league, where he represented Queensland as a winger before suffering a knee injury that required a reconstructive surgery.

King took over from Buchanan at state side Queensland, leading the Bulls to two first-class titles, and in 2001 he succeeded Rod Marsh as head of Australia's academy.

Have Your Say Is King right for West Indies?

Like Buchanan, he sprinkles his occasional public comments with phrases like "skill acquisition work".

His analytical approach will be ideal as King takes on a role as West Indies cricket supremo, playing a part in finding and developing talent as well as having the final say on selection.

West Indies' troubles have been blamed on the approach of the various island authorities and on players themselves, who feel making the team is enough.

BENNETT KING FACTFILE Full Name: Bennett Alfred King Born: 19 December 1964, Mossman, Queensland Batting style: Right-handed Bowling style: Right-arm fast medium Coaching career: Queensland 1999/2000 - 2001/02 Australian Cricket Academy 2002 - 2004

Veteran writer BC Pires summed up the situation last year.

"New players who earn more in one tour than they normally would in their whole working lives could not be persuaded that they were failures, even if they were beaten in three days," Pires said.

And Roger Harper, who coached the team in the 2003 World Cup, came home saying inter-island rivalries had to be consigned to the past.

"One of the things we have to get rid of is insularity at all levels," he said.

"Everyone wants West Indies to win but they all want their own people to play."

The seeds of a successful young side began to bud as they upset the odds to win the ICC Champions Trophy.

But the captaincy of Brian Lara was just one of the facets blamed for the 4-0 Test whitewash to England that preceded it.

King's appointment was delayed by 18 months - after interviews he was named as coach before accepting the post and balked as a result.

But time is now running out for the team with three-and-a-half years to go before the islands host the World Cup for the first time.

Any less than a semi-final place and West Indies' first foreign experiment is unlikely to be deemed a success.