BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – West Indies white ball head coach, Daren Sammy, says he is settled on the majority of the squad for the T20 World Cup in June, and has underscored the value of personnel, preparation and purpose if the Caribbean side are to win the ICC showpiece.
The two-time former T20 World Cup-winning captain said since taking over almost a year ago, he had focussed on the importance of roles and finding players to fit those roles, and this had allowed selectors to significantly narrow down the larger group.
And with the T20 World Cup now only eight weeks away, Sammy said the personnel was all but settled with only fine-tuning left to be done.
“Personnel, preparation, purpose – those are the three P’s that I use,” Sammy told a media conference here Monday.
“We’ve selected squads and exposed about 22 players over the last year in preparation for this main event that is coming, and fine-tuning and giving clear guidance as to what roles are required in the different positions, to help us to be successful.
He continued: “So you would’ve seen … different guys getting different opportunities over a consistent period of time in different roles, and it has brought us down to probably the final 15, 16, 20 players, and it’s about fine-tuning now.
“I’m probably quite sure as to what my World Cup team will be. It’s based on the measures that we’ve taken and the strategic roles we have given players.”
Under Sammy, West Indies won T20 World Cup titles in 2012 and 2016, and also reached the final four of the 2014 edition in Bangladesh, but have endured shambolic campaigns since.
In the 2021 tournament staged in Oman and United Arab Emirates, a side led by the now-retired Kieron Pollard and including veterans like Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo, lost four of their five games to miss out on qualification for the second round.
More disaster ensued the following year in Australia when a Nicholas Pooran-led squad lost two of their three qualifying games and failed to reach the main draw of the tournament.
An overhaul of the team management and playing personnel – including a change of captain – saw West Indies winning every series they played last year, and Sammy said they were adjustments which had to be made in order for the side to rebuild.
“We noticed that the ability in the middle overs to play spin was a factor for us, and you saw the introduction of Shai Hope into T20 cricket and Nicholas Pooran moving from number five thereabouts to number three – he’s probably one of our best players of spin,” Sammy continued.
“Where before 2023 we were averaging six or so runs per over between overs number seven to 15 whereas international teams were going at seven, close to eight, we have now changed that to seven.
“Still we need improvement but the small measures that we’re taking and the preciseness with which we’re working has enabled us to take little strides.
“We saw the reintroduction of (Andre) Russell who’s doing really well in the IPL now – that’s part of his preparation as well.
“We’ve seen (Shimron) Hetmyer come back into the squad although he’s not delivered how I want him to perform. You’ve seen personnel like Sherfane Rutherford coming back into the West Indies team.”
West Indies will feature in Group C of the June 1-29 tournament which the Caribbean will co-host with United States, and will face New Zealand, Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea and Uganda in the preliminary stage.
Their group campaign will be spread across Guyana, St Lucia and Trinidad, and Sammy said much of the planning took into consideration the various venues.
“A lot goes into our thinking when we select different teams and with the different venues that we have … if you see the different teams we play, it’s right in line with the strength of our team – understanding what it will take to defeat these guys,” Sammy said.
“The biggest thing for us has been preparation and it shows that when we prepare well, we’ve given ourselves the best chance of performing.”
West Indies will enter a camp in Antigua starting May 10 to hone their preparations for the event in which a record 20 teams will participate.
CMC