Sammy: We’ve done well under trying circumstances

NEW CHANDIGARH, India – Having arrived in India to the news of a substantial pay cut, West Indies head coach Daren Sammy believes his troops have performed admirably under trying circumstances, even though results have not gone their way.

Last week, on the eve of their white-ball tour of India, the cash-strapped Cricket West Indies announced that due to financial hardships, players on international retainer contracts would see their retainer fees cut by 25 per cent.

Since then, the West Indies have lost both One Day Internationals (ODIs) by eight wickets to trail the three-match series 0-2.

Responding to questions in a pre-match press conference on Friday ahead of the third and final ODI on Saturday, Sammy maintained that the regional side had shown heart despite receiving a pay cut.

He pointed to their loss in the second ODI, where the team created history by scoring over 400 runs for the first time, while also having three batters scoring centuries in an innings, another first.

“As a professional, that’s not what you want to hear before a series, but again, it’s no secret to me or to you guys. I think earlier this year when I was here for the Test series, we spoke about the financial situation of West Indies cricket and I guess the administrators, the board still have to find ways to stay afloat.

“If you have a business that’s not doing well financially, then you have to find ways to sustain it, unless I can say abracadabra and we get some big money where we could entice our players and let them know that everything is going to be ok financially, and that’s the situation we’re facing,” Sammy explained.

“I told the guys that with all the pay cuts, there is no better time to play India. You win against the best team, you get some leverage, not only for West Indies as a whole but for you personally. Performing against India always brings that extra incentive that could later down the road, pay you back for your performance.

“We try our best to put that behind us but it’s a big, big mirror that you can’t escape, seeing the reflection of all the struggles that are present, but I commend the guys for the way they’ve put their heads down. Yes, the results have not gone our way, but we continue to improve in certain areas and to me, understanding the objective of this trip and understanding what success for my team means, I think we’ve taken some strides,” he maintained.

Sammy said the West Indies had faced tough conditions in India, which required a better effort from the bowlers.

He admitted that while the wickets in India were better suited for batters, the team’s bowling unit needed to be more consistent.

“…We still need to find ways, when wickets are not really offering any assistance to the bowlers, to be disciplined enough with our lines and lengths and the plans that we put in, but we always knew that coming to India is always a challenge, not only for us but for most teams.

“There’s a reason why it’s been over 20 years that we’ve won a series here, but we had the belief that if we do certain things right, and the games India lost in India, we understood what we had to do in order to win and we’ve not been able to do that,” Sammy said.

“By the looks of things, everywhere we go the pitch gets better for batting, so as professionals you have to come out and do your job.”

CMC