Sammy: Windies need to step up

West Indies white-ball coach, Daren Sammy, is determined to transform his team’s series victories into World Cup triumphs as they eye the 2026 T20 World Cup.

In anticipation of the upcoming home T20 series against South Africa in Trinidad & Tobago, which kicks off this Friday, Sammy emphasised the need for Rovman Powell’s squad to reignite their winning mentality on the global stage, particularly with the next big opportunity looming in Sri Lanka.

“We must continuously evolve and refine our game,” asserted the former West Indies captain.

“I want to become a championship winning team, right now we are a series winning team. We play one team over a series three or five game period and we know what to do. I want this team to be a championship winning team where we can fight and play different opposition and come up with the goods every single game. That is where the focus of this team is moving into another World Cup preparation year.”

The West Indies entered this year’s T20 World Cup with buoyant expectations, having won four out of their last five series, including marquee victories against India and England. Yet, despite their confidence, the cohosts fell short of their aspirations, exiting in the Super Eight stage against the eventual finalists, South Africa.

As the last captain to lead the West Indies to T20 World Cup glory— achieving this feat twice, in 2012 and 2016—Sammy is acutely aware that an intangible, yet critical, quality is missing in the current squad.

Reflecting on this, the 40-year-old, whose final appearance for the West Indies was in the victorious 2016 T20 World Cup final, remarked, “If you go back to 2016 where you had a championship team, I don’t think the next group of players coming through had the

experience of those guys who were champions and had that know how to win.”

Winning mentality

He continued, “Those guys who were coming through after 2016 are now the senior players … .the Nicholas Poorans, Rovman Powells, Johnson Charles. They are the experienced guys looking after the likes of Alick Athanaze and Shamar Joseph. Right now, we have a combination of youth and experience and by the time you look at the next 16 months, hopefully the game plan we put in place, the roles and the personnel we have to fulfil those roles will tick all the boxes so that the title winning mentality can come to fruition.”

The West Indies will face South Africa in three T20 Internationals from August 23 to 27 at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba. The pitch, which was recently criticised by the ICC as “unsatisfactory” following its use in the T20 World Cup semi-final, saw surprise semi-finalists Afghanistan dismissed for just 56 runs, with deliveries either skidding or bouncing unpredictably from the same spots.

These matches, which will be played as doubleheaders with the Massy Women’s Caribbean Premier League (WCPL), will see the absence of allrounders Andre Russell and Jason Holder, both of whom have been rested.

The 15-man squad is as follows: Rovman Powell (Captain), Roston Chase (Vice-Captain), Alick Athanaze, Johnson Charles, Matthew Forde, Shimron Hetmyer, Fabian Allen, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Shamar Joseph, Obed McCoy, Gudakesh Motie, Nicholas Pooran, Sherfane Rutherford, and Romario Shepherd. (JC)

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