Daren Sammy on clash of Co-hosts as West Indies face USA
20/06/2024
Kensington Oval, Bridgetown
20/06/2024
Kensington Oval, Bridgetown
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00Good night, Darren. First and foremost, I want to ask you about the crowd. St. Lucia really came out to support your boys, came out to support you as well. So, speak about that.
00:10It was a pleasure to see and experience St. Lucia. We asked them to come out and support the team and to just see the stadium, the amount of people that came.
00:23This is what the World Cup is about, playing at home. I must say massive thanks to St. Lucia for coming out and supporting the boys.
00:33Obviously, they might be disappointed at this result, but the effort in making sure they filled the stadium, that was really good to experience.
00:44An unfortunate start to the Super 8 stage. You have USA coming up next. What would you learn from this game to implement in the next game and going forward?
00:54I think, look, we asked too bad first. We were about 25 runs short on this wicket. Having said that, we got it to at least 10 runs and over at one point.
01:08We did not execute our plans well enough. A couple of chances here and there. In a tournament, there's a game where the opposition will get the better of you, but that doesn't mean you're out of it.
01:27Now, in order to win, we've got to win all our matches. That's what we'll focus on. We will leave this game right here in St. Lucia. It's a short turnaround. We go to Barbados tomorrow. On Friday, we have a game against the USA.
01:44That's where our focus will be. We as a selection group will meet and see how best we could further improve our team based on the conditions we might face in Barbados.
01:58Final question from me. Squad selection is never an easy thing. We see Owen McCoy was left out tonight in spite of his performance last game on this wicket. What was the rationale behind that?
02:11If you notice the 11 combination we've had, we could talk about it now in hindsight, but we backed the 11. I've said it from day one. We have 15 potential match winners.
02:27Obed did well, but if you look at what Shepard has done for us over the last years in T20 cricket, what he brings to the team, we fought going against them, especially with the potential line-up England could have and the dual role that it brings.
02:50It was tough on Obed, but in hindsight, we could dissect the game. I thought as a selection group, we got it right before it actually started.
03:05Darren, you're the only person in the entire world who could say that you've won two World Cups. A lot of expectations are on you right now. What do you have to say saying that you guys experienced your first loss tonight?
03:22It's part of the game. Like I said, it's a quick turnaround. This loss will not dampen our spirits. We still believe we've got a team that could win this World Cup. That's what I tell the guys inside when I speak to them. Pack this game and put it in the garbage.
03:48We move forward to Barbados, where we win against USA, and then we have South Africa in Antigua on Sunday. We're going to take it one game out of the two games to go, and then we have potential four games left in the tournament.
04:14That's how I see it.
04:17Final question from me. On the opposition side, both tonight and the game before, there was experience that you know very well. Dwyane Bravo for Afghanistan and Karen Pollard on England. What is it like going up against these minds that you know very, very well, and what would you say about them being in those setups?
04:41Look, it's good. Something I've spoken about, especially if you look at franchise cricket, it's good for us to have representation in the coaching aspect of things. That could help further develop our players coming up. All these guys are young guys that I played with, so to see them venturing into coaching like myself is good for the region.
05:08We've had a history of so many great cricketers who've passed through, and now not seeing them into coaching different teams and so many leagues happening and not enough West Indians in their coaching, so we could have our own representation for our players.
05:28So to see myself, Bravo, Pollard in that role, it's good for us and we could even further develop ourselves. It's something I would encourage all the guys who've played your next career. It's good to give back something to the game.
05:47But I've come up against these guys all the time. You do it in the Caribbean Premier League, in franchise cricket, so the competition is still there.
06:18I think USA played in the US. We've played there a couple times, but I think just for the tournament, West Indies, it's important for us to bring out the crowd at home. I saw the pitches in the US, I definitely wouldn't want to play a game in New York, I can tell you that.
06:44It was very challenging for all the batters up there. But look, if you look at the bigger picture, the whole idea of hosting the World Cup in the US to broaden the game and what I saw in the US, it's encouraging.
07:01Obviously, the USA team is in the Super 8s. That will help grow the game, bring new fans from a new region and hopefully more games could venture out there.
07:18With the West Indian support, do you think this could work to your advantage moving forward? Are you optimistic of making it among the top two from that group?
07:28Yeah, that's why we play the game. Our main objective from everything we've done over the last year is preparing for this tournament. The way we've played, the good things we've done, no one said it was going to be easy.
07:45They have good teams in the tournament. Today we came up against the defending champions and they got the better of us. But like I said before, that doesn't mean our tournament is over. Our destiny is in our own hands and I feel I've got a 15 group of men that really believe that this tournament they could win.