Beating USA and South Africa is now the main focus for the West Indies after the boys in maroon suffered their first defeat of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup to England, on Wednesday night.
Head coach Daren Sammy says all remaining games in the World Cup are must-win encounters if the West Indies are to lift the T20 title on home soil.
The Caribbean men started the Super 8s on a losing note with the defeat at the stadium named after their coach, and now sit bottom of Group 2. But Sammy is backing his team to return to winning ways against the USA at Kensington Oval on Friday.
“Now, in order to win, we’ve got to win all our matches. And that’s what we’ll focus on,” Sammy said at a press conference after Wednesday’s game. “We will leave this game right here in Saint Lucia. It’s a short turnaround. We go to Barbados tomorrow and on Friday we have a game against the USA and that’s what our focus will be.
“We still believe we have a team that could win this World Cup. And that’s what I tell the guys inside when I speak to them. Pack this game, put it in the garbage, and we move forward to Barbados where we win against the USA, and then we have South Africa in Antigua on Sunday…. And then we have potentially four games left in the tournament. This loss will not dampen our spirits.” he added.
England defeated West Indies by eight wickets after sending the hosts into bat first on a perfect pitch for scoring runs. West Indies posted 180-4 in their 20 overs and England, led by the brilliance of opener Phil Salt who smashed an unbeaten 87, reached the target with almost three overs to spare.
“We were about 25 runs short on this wicket. Having said that, we got it to at least 10 runs an over at one point,” noted Sammy. “We did not execute our plans well enough. Couple chances here and there. But 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. 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.”
Sammy opted for all-rounder Romario Shepherd at the expense of left-arm pacer Obed McCoy, a decision that turned out to be costly for West Indies as Shepherd conceded 41 runs in his two overs.
“Obed did well, but if you look at what Shepherd has done for us over the last years in T20 cricket, what he brings to the team, we thought going against them, especially with the potential lineup England could have, and the dual role that it brings. It was tough on Obed but, in hindsight, we could dissect the game. But I thought as a selection group, we got it right before it actually started,” the coach said.
Despite the defeat, Sammy remains optimistic that the West Indies will advance to the semi-finals next week.
“No one said it was going to be easy. They 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 got a 15 group of men that really believe that this tournament they could win.” (BT)
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