Coach Sammy settled on core of WI squad
West Indies white ball head coach, Daren Sammy, is settled on most of the squad for the Twenty20 (T20) World Cup in June and underscored the value of personnel, preparation and purpose for them to win the ICC showpiece.
The two-time former T20 World Cupwinning captain said since taking over almost a year ago, he had focussed on the importance of roles and finding players to fit those roles, and this had allowed selectors to significantly narrow down the larger group.
With the T20 World Cup now only eight weeks away, Sammy said the personnel were all but settled with only fine-tuning left to be done.
“Personnel, preparation, purpose – those are the three P’s that I use,” Sammy told a media conference yesterday.
“We’ve selected squads and exposed about 22 players over the last year in preparation for this main event that is coming, and fine-tuning and giving clear guidance as to what roles are required in the different positions to help us to be successful.
He continued: “Different guys getting different opportunities over a consistent period in different roles, and it has brought us down to probably the final 15, 16, 20 players, and it’s about fine-tuning now.
“I’m probably quite sure as to what my World Cup team will be. It’s based on the measures that we’ve taken and the strategic roles we have given players.”
Under Sammy, West Indies won T20 World Cup titles in 2012 and 2016 and also reached the final four of the 2014 edition in Bangladesh, but have endured shambolic campaigns since.
In the 2021 tournament staged in Oman and United Arab Emirates, West Indies led by the now-retired Kieron Pollard and including veterans like Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo, lost four of their five games to miss out on qualification for the second round.
More disaster ensued the following year in Australia when a Nicholas Pooran-led West Indies lost two of their three qualifying games and failed to reach the main draw of the tournament.
An overhaul of the team management and playing personnel – including a change of captain – saw West Indies winning every series they played last year, and Sammy said they were adjustments which had to be made for them to rebuild.
“We noticed that the ability in the middle overs to play spin was a factor for us, and you saw the introduction of Shai Hope into T20 cricket and Nicholas Pooran moving from No. 5 thereabouts to No. 3 – he’s probably one of our best players of spin,” Sammy continued.