Incoming West Indies red-ball head coach, Daren Sammy, said Monday while it was important for his beleaguered side to close the gap on the rest of the world, it was critically important to be “realistic” about the challenges ahead for the Caribbean side.
The former West Indies captain, who orchestrated two successful Twenty20 World Cup campaigns in 2012 and 2016, has led the white-ball squads for the past two years, but will also take over the reins of the Test squad from next month.
West Indies currently languish eighth in the International Cricket Council rankings, only above Bangladesh, Ireland and Afghanistan, and Sammy said instead of lofty objectives, he intended to focus on “processes … plans … and execution” in order to initiate the change necessary.
“I understand the job,” Sammy told an online media briefing.
“When I have the conversations with the director [of cricket about] what he wants, to what [is] the direction myself – as the head coach – and my team see we could go, how we’re going to do it but most importantly, the reality of where we’re at as a Test-playing nation … is also important.
“So in planning and putting goals on a long term plan, we have to be realistic. We’ve looked at all the top four teams in the world, regional competitions in their territories, what they do on the international scene, [we want to] mirror it with what we do regionally here – our four-day competition which is what we do on the Test team – and we’ve collected all the data.
“And once we do that, we now can see where we match the world in certain areas and the other areas where we can improve … then we set our goals from there, whether it be finishing in the top five or moving our rankings from number eight to seven and to six, and do it gradually.”
West Indies have not won a Test series in two years, since Kraigg Brathewaite’s side beat minnows Zimbabwe in a two-match series in Bulawayo. In the interim, the Caribbean side have lost 10 of 15 Tests played.
The struggle dates back several years, however, West Indies fading as a Test superpower during the late 1990s and failing to recapture their glory of the 1970s and 80s, despite a plethora of changes in coaches, captains and administrators.
Sammy said he would undertake the same pragmatic approach he used with the white-ball sides, stressing feasibility in planning.
“I’m not going to promise anybody something that I don’t think is feasible within my tenure,” the 41-year-old said frankly.
“If I am to follow what we did in [T20] cricket, from moving to number nine in T20s to at one point number three, with the process that we had.
“But to me, my most important and satisfying period was with the one-day team. When we started we were 18 points clear of number nine, I think.
“Today, I think we’re within six or seven points, and everything we did was looking at different series and how we could win to get closer to the goal, which is to win that 2027 World cup and how we’re going to do it.
“We’re now within probably 12 points of the top six teams in the world.”
He added: “So again it’s processes, it’s plans, it’s execution but the reality is always important of where we’re at in the world of cricket, and we’re not in a very good position – that’s the truth.”
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