Showing posts with label Darren Sammy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Darren Sammy. Show all posts

Friday, 8 April 2016

Whole World Had Come Down - Stokes

Ben Stokes
Ben Stokes
Ben Stokes has spoken for the first time since England’s defeat in the World Twenty20 final, saying he felt “the whole world had come down on me”.

The England all-rounder had been charged with ensuring West Indies could not recover the 19 runs needed in the final over to take the T20 trophy. Instead he was hit for four consecutive sixes by Carlos Brathwaite and was taunted afterwards by the man of the match Marlon Samuels for bowling full tosses. “He doesn’t learn,” the batsman said.

Stokes recalled the moment vividly in an interview with the Daily Telegraph, saying: “I thought, ‘I’ve just lost the World Cup’. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know what to do. It took me so long to get back on my feet. I didn’t want to get back up. It was like the whole world had come down on me. There weren’t any good things going through my mind. It was just complete devastation,” he said.

“For about 40 minutes at the end of the game I knew I just had to deal with it. I had to come back out on the field, collect my medal and listen to all the speeches. I knew the cameras would be all over me to see how I was. Obviously I was gutted but I did not want to show that. I wanted to keep my head up.

Although his captain Eoin Morgan was quick to offer his support there were unwanted repercussions this week when Stokes’s mother Deborah, who lives in New Zealand, phoned the Radio Hauraki show to defend her son after the hosts criticised his performance. Her complaint was broadcast live on air without her permission. The two hosts were suspended.

Stokes recalled the denouement. “After the first six I thought ‘Oh God’ but I was backing myself. I had been in that type of situation for four weeks in all my training so it was not a case of holding anything back and thinking I hope I get this one in, because I knew I could do it,” he said.

“It was not until they needed one off three that I knew the game was gone. When they needed seven I was still backing myself to get us over the line but I just couldn’t. It was amazing hitting. I just did not execute what I wanted to do.”


Sunday, 3 April 2016

Brathwaite Halts England T20 Hopes

Carlos Braithwaite
Carlos Braithwaite and Chris Gayle, West Indies, World Twet20 Final
Getty Images
West Indies won a tense World T20 final in spectacular style, when Carlos Brathwaite hit the first four balls of the final over for four sixes, making a mockery of what looked a stiff task of 19 off six Ben Stokes deliveries. 

West Indies finished on 161 for six.

England had posted 155 for nine as Joe Root led the way with a classy half-century. When Darren Sammy won his 10th straight toss he was quick to send England in and promptly saw them lose three quick cheap wickets in the first five overs. But Root’s 54 in 36 balls gave the innings some backbone, with Jos Buttler (36) and David Willey (21) chipping in as wickets tumbled regularly in Kolkata.

When West Indies batted, they quickly slipped to 11 for three, with Chris Gayle making only four. But Marlon Samuels was reprieved after being given out with the score on 37 and finished with 85 off 66 balls. 

Then came Brathwaite’s fireworks.



Saturday, 2 April 2016

Captain Morgan Faces Gayle Force

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England and West Indies will attempt to make history when they contest the World Twenty20 final at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday.


No team has won the competition more than once since its inception in 2007.

India, Pakistan, England, West Indies and Sri Lanka have all won the title.

England lost to the Windies in their first group match but have since won four in a row, while West Indies lost to Afghanistan having qualified for the semi-finals, where they beat India.

England's Eoin Morgan: "We know it's not going to be a normal game, even in the semi-final, there was quite a lot of hype around the expectation of playing in a final.

"I want all of our players to embrace it. Everything's going to feel a little bit rushed to start with. It's important that we're in a really good frame of mind to slow things down when needed and more importantly execute our skills.

"Given the strides we have made in the last 12 months in white-ball cricket, I think this would be a great reward for the mindset we've shown, the dedication and the hard work we've put in."

West Indies skipper Darren Sammy: "England is a team we respect. We know the calibre of players they have in the dressing room, they have a lot of match-winners as well.

"But we tend to focus on what we can on the cricket field and as a group we believe that once we do what we know we can do on the cricket field it is going to be difficult to defeat us.

"Since that loss to us England have moved in leaps and bounds, that's why they are in the final. I always want cricket to be the winner and hope the fans are entertained and it will be a very exciting match, but at the end I just want West Indies to be victorious."

The first official T20 matches comprising 20 six-ball overs per side took place in the 2003 English county cricket season and the first T20 international was played between New Zealand and Australia in Auckland in February 2005.

The inaugural World T20 was played in 2007 and won by India but after six tournaments in the first nine years, there will be a four-year gap before the next one in Australia in 2020.

This will be the teams' 14th meeting in T20 cricket. West Indies have won nine, including all four at the World T20. No team has beaten England more in T20 history than those nine wins by the West Indies

Chris Gayle has scored more T20 runs against England than any other player (345)

England captain Eoin Morgan has been out first ball in two of his last three innings

West Indies captain Darren Sammy has scored just six runs in two innings and bowled only once in the tournament

Four of David Willey's wickets in this event have been openers, the most of any bowler

50% of balls bowled by Ben Stokes in overs 16-20 have been dots, more than anyone else in the event to have bowled more than three overs in that period

Four of the five T20 finals have been won by the side winning the toss

Two of those finals have won by the side batting first, three by chasing teams, including England in 2010

Eden Gardens has been staging international cricket since 1934 and hosted its first T20 international in 2011.

The highest score made there in a T20 was the 201-5 Pakistan posted against Bangladesh in this event.

Bangladesh hold the unwanted lowest-score record, with their 70 against New Zealand last month.

Neither finalist has yet played at the ground in this tournament, England playing all their games to date in Mumbai and Delhi, West Indies playing at Mumbai, Bangalore and Nagpur.

Temperatures are expected to be around 31 celsius for the final, which is a night game, beginning at 19:00 local time, with a capacity crowd of 66,000 expected.

Routes to the final:

ENGLAND
lost to West Indies by six wickets, Mumbai: Eng 182-6; WI 183-4 (18.1 overs)
beat South Africa by two wickets, Mumbai: SA 229-4; Eng 230-8 (19.4 overs)
beat Afghanistan by 15 runs, Delhi: Eng 142-7; Afg 127-9 (20 overs)
beat Sri Lanka by 10 runs, Delhi: Eng 171-4; SL 161-8 (20 overs)

Semi-final:
Beat New Zealand by seven wickets, Delhi: NZ 153-8; Eng 159-3 (17.1 overs)

WEST INDIES
beat England by six wickets, Mumbai
beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets, Bangalore: SL 122-9; WI 127-3 (18.2 overs)
beat South Africa by three wickets, Nagpur: SA 122-8; WI 123-7 (19.4 overs)
lost to Afghanistan by six runs, Nagpur: Afg 123-7; WI 117-8 (20 overs)

Semi-final:
beat India by six wickets, Mumbai: Ind 192-2; WI 196-3 (19.4 overs)

Line-ups:

England (probable): A Hales, J Roy, J Root, E Morgan (capt), J Buttler (wkt), B Stokes, M Ali, C Jordan, D Willey, A Rashid, L Plunkett.

West Indies (probable): J Charles, C Gayle, M Samuels, L Simmons, A Russell, D Bravo, D Ramdin (wkt), D Sammy (capt), C Brathwaite, S Badree, S Benn.

Umpires: 
R Tucker (Aus), K Dharmasena (SL).
Third umpire: M Erasmus (SA)
Match referee: R Madugalle (Ind).

Wednesday, 10 February 2016

Sammy Seeks Better WIndies Player Deal


West Indies players will be thrown off the squad for the World Twenty20 if they do not agree to financial terms by Sunday’s deadline, according to the head of the region’s cricket board.

The hard-line stance comes in the wake of reports that the 15-man squad, upset at a huge pay cut, has rejected the contract offered by West Indies Cricket Board.

Cricinfo on Tuesday published a letter from Darren Sammy to the WICB in which the West Indies captain said the financial terms for the World Twenty20, which starts in India on 8 March, were unacceptable.

“We want to represent the West Indies but the financials on offer we can’t accept,” Sammy wrote.

WICB chief executive Michael Muirhead did not sound in a negotiating mood, however, when he spoke on Jamaican radio. “The WICB is committed to play in the tournament, let me say that first,” Muirhead said on Hitz 92fm.

“No one will leave the shores of the West Indies without signing a contract and if these players in particular choose not to sign, then I guess we’ll be left with no option but to substitute other players for them.”

Muirhead added that the board was not in a position to improve the remuneration package, negotiated with the players association nine months ago.

“They have had lots of time to digest and argue and do everything,” he said. “Five of the players were instrumental and were there at the onset, so at this point, I’m hoping that the players will sign and take advantage of the other benefits that are there.”

He said that players would receive half of any shirt sponsorship the board negotiates in addition to a portion of prize money.

Although West Indies cricket has fallen on hard times in the test format, it remains a major player in the shortest form of the game. West Indies won the 2012 World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka and are currently ranked second in the world. This year’s squad includes dashing batsmen Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard.

Sammy, who requested an urgent meeting before Sunday’s deadline, has proposed the players participate in the World Twenty20 under the same conditions as at previous tournaments.

He said players were facing a pay cut of nearly 80% and stood to earn only $21,000 apiece this year, compared to $135,000 at the last tournament.

The latest impasse between WICB and the players comes some 18 months after the premature end of West Indies’ tour of India because of a longstanding payment dispute.


Monday, 28 September 2015

Windies Simmons Suspended


West Indies have suspended head coach Phil Simmons after his criticism of the selections for the tour of Sri Lanka.

The 52-year-old, who only took charge in March, questioned the omissions of all-rounders Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard from the one-day squad.

"It's disappointing from the fact that I haven't got the best 50-over ODI squad that we can select," he said. 

Eldine Baptiste, a member of the selection panel, will now take charge of the tour which starts on 14 October.

A media release from West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) said Simmons' comments appeared to "question the legitimacy of the selection process".

It added: "As a result, the management of the WICB has taken action to suspend the head coach, pending an investigation into the issue.

"The head coach will not now travel with the team on the tour of Sri Lanka."

Bravo and Pollard have not featured in the ODI squad since they were dropped for the tour of South Africa in December 2014 after a tour of India was aborted because of a pay dispute.


Friday, 15 November 2013

Final Innings for Tendulkar

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Sachin Tendulkar failed to make a century on what could be his final innings for India in his 200th and final Test match in Mumbai.

Tendulkar scored 74 on the second day of the second Test against West Indies at a sold-out Wankhede Stadium.

With India in a strong position at 221-3 when Tendulkar departed the home side had already established a lead of 39 and a big first innings advantage could see them not needing to bat again.

Tendulkar had begun the day on 38 and and quickly added nine runs, taking a single from the first over of the day off Tino Best before hitting successive fours off Shane Shillingford.

Tendulkar survived a scare off the fifth ball of Best's second over when he failed to get anything on a rising delivery and umpire Richard Kettleborough gave him not out despite committed appeals from the West Indies players.

A straight driven four off Best's next over gave Tendulkar his 68th Test fifty as he moved on to 52 not out as India replied to West Indies first innings total of 182.

The 40-year-old, whose impending retirement has sparked an outpouring of emotion in his homeland, is bidding for one last hurrah before bringing the curtain down on his 24-year international career.

An enthusiastic welcome from the 32,000-strong crowd set the scene for the Little Master on Friday and he did not disappoint. Having reached his half-century Tendulkar set his sights on the next landmark and a 101st career century at international level.

But there was to be no century as he perished for 74 when he was caught by Darren Sammy attempting to cut Narsingh Deonarine.

Tendulkar's tally of 100 centuries is just one of many records he has amassed since making his debut for the national side on 15 November 1989.

Tendulkar holds dozens of batting records, including most runs and centuries in both Tests and one-day internationals.

He has amassed nearly 16,000 runs in his Tests career - a total that comprises just part of his 34,000-plus runs across all forms of the game at international level.


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