The rugged Zouks have shown plenty of determination so far. In battling their way to the CPL final, without an established superstar, few would disagree that they have defied the odds.
Even that, however, might not be enough against the Knight Riders, who have been the league’s best team by a distance this season, winning 10 straight matches. Sammy insists the underdogs will not be overawed.
“It will all come down to execution. It’s a big final they have an experienced team with guys who have played finals before, but the mental toughness of my team showed throughout the tournament,” Sammy said at a pre-match press conference on Wednesday.
“We don’t give up until it’s over and I know that can pull us through. I know I will have a full team believing they can go out and play a full brand of cricket,” he added.
The Caribbean team will head to South Asia immediately following the conclusion of the ongoing series against England, where they are currently leading 2-1. The series has featured a number of standout performances so far, with the likes of Akeal Hosein, Romario Shepherd, and some of the more commonly known names like Rovman Powell and Nicholas Pooran all putting together noteworthy performances during the series so far.
“They have got some really good one-day players, but we have unearthed some new talents in the ongoing series against England,” Sammy said of the team’s chances for the upcoming series.
“I think the West Indies would do well, but you would need the guys to take the wickets with the new ball.”
The former captain also believes the team’s cause could be helped by the knowledge of current captain Kieron Pollard.
“He has been playing in India for so long (at the IPL) and knows the conditions very well,” Sammy said. “Hopefully that experience and knowledge he could bring on to the field.”
The 36-year-old Sammy, who captained the Caribbean T20 team to two World Cup titles, last appeared for the West Indies against a Pakistan XI in 2017. Sammy’s tenure with the team seemed to have come to an end in acrimonious circumstances after he was removed as captain and dropped after publicly criticising the West Indies administration after they won the tournament in 2016.
Pollard, however, noted that as it stands all players are eligible for selection and Sammy is no exception.
“We have made clear to the (new Cricket West Indies) administration that everyone is available for selection in that pool. No one is an exception to the rule. Performances and fitness and everything we are looking for,” Pollard told members of the media.
The 33-year-old Pollard replaced Jason Holder as the ODI captain and Carlos Brathwaite in T20Is last September. Sammy will look to make his mark in the upcoming Caribbean Premier League where he will represent the St Lucia Zouks.
Despite missing a few big faces, West Indies managed to sweep the series, and that along with the rise in rankings should provide a significant boost to the confidence of the Darren Sammy-coached side heading into the June 1-29 showpiece to be hosted in the Caribbean and United States.
With the series win, West Indies (254 rating points), the champions of the 2012 and 2016 editions of the T20 World Cup, are at the fourth place in the list led by 2007 champions India (264 rating points), with 2021 champions Australia (257 rating points) and defending champions England (254 rating points) at the second and third place respectively.
There were individual bright spots for West Indies in the series, who gained substantially in the T20I Player Rankings. This included stand-in skipper Brandon King, whose 159 runs helped him jump up five places to the eighth position in the Men’s T20I Batting Rankings.
His opening partner, Johnson Charles, who hit a blistering 69 from 26 balls in a Player of the Match performance in the third game of the series, gained 17 spots to reach the 20th place.
Meanwhile, Kyle Mayers (31st place in Batting Rankings) and Gudakesh Motie (27th place in Bowling Rankings) were the other beneficiaries from the recently concluded series.
These results bode well for the Men in Maroon, who will be looking for a record third title during their home T20 World Cup. They are placed in Group C along Afghanistan, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and Uganda.
They start their campaign against Papua New Guinea in Guyana on Sunday.
ICC Men's T20I Team Rankings
India -264 points
Australia - 257 points
England - 254 points
West Indies - 252 points
New Zealand - 250 points
Sammy’s final squad, which is expected to be named sometime this week, will be one of nine teams to travel to the Trinidad and Tobago in May for eight warm-up matches, four of which will take place at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, while the other four is scheduled for the historic Queen’s Park Oval. The teams will arrive in twin island republic on May 21.
The revelation came from Cricket West Indies’s (CWI) CEO Johnny Grave during the recently-concluded CARICOM conference on West Indies cricket themed ‘Reinvigorating West Indies Cricket’, in Port of Spain.
Grave explained that the final West Indies squad will not convene in full until they travel to Jamaica at the end of May to engage South Africa in three warm-up contests. However, he pointed out that there will be a camp in Antigua prior, which will involve members of the final squad, who are not plying their trade in the Indian Premier League.
From Jamaica, the Rovman Powell-captained squad will then travel to Trinidad and Tobago for the clash against 50-over World Cup winners Australia, ahead of the tournament to be hosted in the Caribbean and United States.
West Indies, the 2012 and 2016 champions, are hunting a third T20 World Cup title.
“We’re going to have a week-long preparation camp in Antigua from May 12, before heading to Jamaica. We’re then going to leave Jamaica and come here to Trinidad and Tobago for a week’s preparation, including playing at the historic Queen’s Park Oval on May 30, in an evening fixture against one of the tournament favourites Australia,” Grave shared.
“That will probably be one of the only games in the warm-up schedule that will be ticketed, and we certainly hope that the fans here in Trinidad, and particularly those in Port of Spain, will come out and rally behind the West Indies in that warm-up match, which is the final game we’ll play before we head to Guyana for the opening game on June 2,” he added.
West Indies, who are drawn in Group C alongside New Zealand, Afghanistan, Uganda and Papua New Guinea, will open against the latter at the Guyana National Stadium on June 2.
Grave urged fans to come out and rally behind the West Indies outfit in their push to start the tournament on a high.
“Making sure we have a huge party in Georgetown, and we get off to a winning start (will be crucial). We all know in these global tournaments, confidence and momentum are important and we can think of nothing better than starting with a victory in Guyana and ending it in Barbados on June 29 with a similar victory,” Grave said.
The frustrated head coach was speaking after the West Indies lost to the Netherlands in a super over on Monday which leaves their chances of qualifying for the ICC Cricket World Cup in India hanging by a thread.
Having made 374-6, the West Indies were unable to successfully restrict the Dutch side from getting to 374-9 for a tie and triggering a super over. Logan van Beek, who scored 28 from 14 balls to get his side to the super over than smashed three sixes and three fours while scoring 30 runs off Jason Holder’s over.
He then took two wickets and conceded eight runs as the West Indies failed miserably in attempting to overhaul, the record-setting 30-run over by the Netherlands.
Sammy said afterwards, that the West Indies were on track for a possible victory but subsequently lost the plot.
“[At the] halfway stage, 374 on the board, I thought the batters did excellently but again it shows you where we are as a team. We were kind of poor tactically. We didn’t stick to the plans as long as possible and we just thought because we had 375 on the board that we should win, but cricket is not played like this,” he said.
“And it’s a lesson for us that you can’t take any game of cricket for granted.”
The head coach who was appointed just last month, believes his team approaching its nadir but remained optimistic about its future.
“I am a very positive thinker and I understand the journey that I have to take with this team. Sometimes you’ve got to reach rock bottom to come back up,” he said.
“I understand the challenges ahead and I also understand that things will not change overnight and it’s a true reflection of where our cricket is at the moment and we have a lot of work to do.”
The loss to the Netherlands means the West Indies, two-time champions, now face the near impossible task of qualifying for the World Cup. They must now win all their Super Six matches while hoping that Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka lose two of theirs and that the Netherlands lose at least one of theirs in order to qualify.
He likens the teams to two biblical characters.
“I see them as Goliath,” said Sammy while addressing the media during a pre-final press conference on Wednesday.
“They are the Goliath of the tournament, but like I said to my men, don’t forget that David defeated Goliath.
“That’s the confidence we have as a team. Everybody knows that from the time the tournament started we said whoever wins this tournament has to go through TKR. That was a given. If you want to win this tournament you have got to beat TKR, and that is what is left to do to win this cup.”
Sammy, who led the West Indies to two ICCT20 World Cups, said the team is confident and united in its vision regarding what is to unfold at the Brian Lara Stadium on Thursday morning.
“They (TKR) have played some exciting, dominant brand of cricket but we have that silent confidence in our team that we play as a unit,” he said.
“They play well as a unit by dominance but we play as a unit by pulling together and believing in ourselves. I think is a very good matchup for tomorrow, and hopefully in this COVID time, we will bring out the entertainment that will ease the stress of the Caribbean people.”
The Zouks got to the final in a dominant win over five-time finalists Guyana Amazon Warriors. The Zouks bowled the Warriors out for just 55, the second-lowest score in CPL history and then achieved their target without losing a wicket.
Sammy led the team to six wins and four losses during the preliminary round.
The rain-affected fixture the Tridents posted 131 for 7 in their turn at the crease, before the showers caused a delay in the game. On the resumption, the Zouks posted 50 for 3 to win the match. Unusually, however, in attacking the Tridents early on, Sammy used eight bowlers.
Mohammad Nabi was the star with the ball, his varying pace, and reading the batsmen's intentions, gave neither right- nor left-hander any room, and he got his arm ball to deviate like a leg-cutter. Sammy bowled Nabi out early the rest of his off-spinners ripped through the Tridents’ middle order.
With the death overs approaching he went to his third off-spinner, Roston Chase, who picked up Jonathan Carter and Kyle Mayers in consecutive balls. Deyal, yet another off-spinner, became the eighth bowler used and the fifth to take a wicket as Andre Fletcher took a good catch off Raymond Reifer’s outside edge.
“Today, the mix-up with the bowlers, everyone I called on, the spinners, in the middle, they responded so that’s a good sign for us going forward,” Sammy said following the game.
“I think we have a good all-round team, today I probably used eight or seven bowlers. So, everybody is equipped for different situations. If a team has a few left-handed we have a couple of spinners to turn the ball away from them and when the team has right-handers we have the left-armers and chinaman bowlers. So, I’m really happy with the guys that we have.”
The Zouks, first-time finalists posted a competitive score of 154 off 19.1 overs, thanks to Andre Fletcher’s top score of 39 and scores of 29 from Mark Deyal, 24 from Roston Chase, and 24 from Najibullah Zadran.
However, the total was not nearly enough as TKR smashed their way to victory with 11 balls to spare.
Lendl Simmons and Darren Bravo posted an unbroken third-wicket partnership of 138 to lead their side to their fourth CPL title.
Sammy, in his post-match comments, lamented that the Zouks did not get more runs after being in a strong position of 77 for 2 in the ninth over of their innings.
“We thought we were about 15-20 runs short from the start we had. Plus, we didn't complete our batting innings and when you play against a side like TKR you have to make sure you at least make full use of your overs. But we still felt we had enough when we put them under pressure in the first six overs,” he said.
“But these guys, Bravo and Simmons, have played so much together; they absorbed the pressure and put it back on us.”
Despite the outcome, Sammy said the Zouks fought bravely and put in a solid shift against the now four-time champions.
“I think we really pushed TKR in all three games we played against them in the tournament and I'm really proud of that,” he said.
“The message from the last few days is we never quit. The whole nation was behind us. We're very disappointed but we have shown that if we play a brand of cricket, we'll get results. I think we've put our hands up this tournament.”
The former West Indies captain said, however, that there were other positives to take from the final.
“Of course when you lose a final you think about things you could have done differently. Maybe I should have been more sure about the decision I wanted to take towards the end. But we've been resilient, we showed commitment and we played a brand of cricket that shows you don't need superstars. For eight years we have been trying to get to the final and we got here,” he said.
“Congratulations to Kieron Pollard and his team and I really want to thank CPL to have cricket in this time. We created an opportunity in the Caribbean for people to smile. And thanks to my team for the way they have turned up.”
