West Indies white-ball coach Darren Sammy has seen talent to build on for next year’s T20 World Cup. And he is keen for regional players to buy into the style of play now being encouraged.
“I’ve seen some excellent talent that we could pick from and who will buy into what we trying to do,” Sammy said in a television interview on the last weekend.
Asked for names, Sammy pointed out a few. “(Daniel) Doram. The way he bowled reminded me of Sulieman Benn,” Sammy began.
Doram, a left-arm orthodox spinner from the Leeward Islands Hurricanes has so far taken 13 wickets in the tournament.
The WI coach also made mention of Trinidad and Tobago Red Force opening batter Kjorn Ottley, with 259 runs so far, and Alec Athanaze of the Windward Islands Volcanoes (276).
“All these guys are performing and that’s what you want…We need guys with the hunger and the passion that want to play for West Indies and buy into, not what we are trying to put in place but the standard of cricket that is required for us to perform on the world stage.”
Sammy said the bonus points system being used in the Super50 series was designed to encourage a “positive” approach to the 50-over game.
“It’s all about giving guidance to the cricket,” he said. “A lot of research went into what we did. We will not get it right all the time but myself, our analyst, the Director (of Cricket), we looked into List A cricket in England, India, Australia, South Africa, the top five teams in the world. What are they doing at the List A level? How are they playing compared to what we are doing over the last four, five years and we noticed where we were coming short.
“By this bonus points system it creates a certain brand of players. It gives you direction. Now three, four, five understand their role. Even if the openers go helter-skelter, you don’t have to come and continue that. If you understand what your role is during that period, you play accordingly and you put your team in good position to launch in the back end.
Sammy added: “What I’m demanding from my players at the top (must) filter down to the bottom, and when I say the bottom, I mean regional cricketers, because this is where the future really is. What we produce from here affects how we play at the top (international cricket).
“We not in the World Cup because the same things we do in List A cricket (we do) at the top, and that’s not good enough for international cricket.”
The WI coach admitted that Windies ODI cricket was at a “very critical” point.
“It’s upon us, the guys in leadership to start…putting measures in place for us just to not say ‘this is how we play, this is what we are.’ Nah. We have to be able to shift the needle…We have to put systems in place in order for the development and the growth of our players to continue. But we have to start somewhere.
“And I think where we could control is putting guidelines in place of how we want the cricket to be played and now its up to the bosses to make sure when we come to Trinidad at the Queen’s Park Oval (for example), the wicket is good, The groundsmen need to be able to prepare these surfaces that allows the brand and style of cricket that we want.”