We will cherish this win for a long time: Darren Sammy

We all knew how important this win was for West Indies cricket and this team led by Darren Sammy. There were contract troubles, financial issues, selection woes, hardly anybody backed them ahead of the tournament and despite all that this team played with a lot of flare to eventually land on the podium. Every time Sammy had a microphone close to his face, he emphasized on the point that this team has achieved all this in their own capacity, with their own will and determination, they had no support whatsoever from the board and it rather tried to foil things.

Following the victory during the post match presentation, Sammy took the opportunity once again to convey his message to the cricketing universe, and said it was probably the last time he was playing with this team, the last time all of them were playing together and that he will celebrate this win with his team and cherish it for a long time.

Sammy said: “Firstly, I want to thank the almighty. We have a pastor in the team – Andre Fletcher, who kept praying. Really happy with this win and this is something that we will cherish for a long time. It was serious hitting from Brathwaite. It said before that we have 15 match winners in the side. Every game somebody took responsibility. To see him play like that in his debut World Cup was amazing. Hopefully, with the right structure and development, we’ll get better in ODIs and Tests as well.”

Nasser Hussain asked him to compare the win here with the 2012 World T20 victory and Sammy said, “Nass, do you really want me to tell you, okay. We started our journey. We all know what we had. People were wondering whether we would play this tournament. We had a lot of issues and we felt disrespected by our board.”

He did not forget to mention Mark Nicholas’ comment where he had described the West Indies team as a team with no brains but said all this really added fuel to their fire and grit to do well. Sammy said, “Mark Nicholas described our team as a team of ‘no brains.’ All these things just before the tournament brought this team together. I want to really thank these 15 men with. The ability to put all those adversity aside and to come out and play this type of cricket in front of such passionate fans… it’s just tremendous. I personally also want to thank the coaching staff. Coach Phil (Simmons). He’s been through a lot. To come here and the way he’s coached this team.. he’s just brilliant. All the other coaching staff who have done their part.”

About the team manager and his efforts to get them a proper kit ahead of the tournament the skipper said, “We had a new manager in this tournament in Rawl Lewis, who has never managed any team before. He came here. We had a camp in Dubai. We had no uniforms. No printing. He left Dubai, went to Kolkata.. that’s where we started. The trouble he went through to get us in this uniform.”

He got a little emotional while stating the real struggle the guys had to go through to see this day when they are crowned the World T20 champions. “I got to give credit to the entire team here. It was us in our own little circle. We dedicate this win to all the fans in the Caribbean. And lastly I want to find the heads of Caricom. Throughout this tournament they have been supporting the team. We have got emails, we have got calls.”

Sammy said that he received a personal message from the Prime Minister before the game and that inspired them to do well tonight. “Prime Minister Mitchell, I know what he’s trying to do. I really want to thank him and he sent a very inspiring message to the team this morning.”

And with all this the team was yet to hear from the WICB, “And we are yet to hear from our own cricket board and that is very disappointing.”

“For today, I am going to celebrate with these 15 men and this coaching staff. I don’t know when I am going to be playing with these guys again, because we don’t get selected for one-day cricket. We don’t know when we are going to be playing T20s. So this win. I want to thank you my team. I want to thank you coaching staff. Everybody in the West Indies are champion.” He thanked the coaching staff, his entire 15-men squad for their hard work, for believing that they could and for winning the tournament.

What did Bravo say after their win? – BCCI does more for us than the WICB: Dwayne Bravo