BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC- Captain Darren Sammy says defending World T20 champions West Indies have found favourable momentum with less than a week to go before the start of the tournament in Bangladesh.
The West Indies captain was commenting after his team’s back-to-back victories over England in the first two of a three match T20 series.
West Indies beat England by five wickets on Tuesday after prevailing by 27 runs on Sunday to clinch the series with the final match set for today.
“We wanted to leave here with good momentum going into the World Cup,” Sammy said.
“For two games it has been a complete team effort, I can’t fault the lads.”
West Indies begin the defence of their World T20 title with a game against India at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Mirpur on March 23rd.
Sammy said the series victory over England represented the ideal boost the team needed before leaving for the Caribbean and credited the achievement on total team work.
“In T20 cricket the momentum shifts at different times and we wanted to make sure we started well and we finished well,” said Sammy.
“It feels good. It’s been a long time since we won a series, much less winning 3-0.”
Sammy said he was relieved to see Gayle’s return from injury as well as his current form and pointed to the opening partnership of Gayle and Dwayne Smith as an asset on the subcontinent.
“Chris [Gayle] is one of the most explosive Twenty20 players and [Dwayne] Smith allows Chris to play in that manner. Cricket is all about partnerships, we bowl in partnerships and when we bat, it’s very important,” said Sammy.
“Gayle, we know how destructive he can be, but he gives himself time and Smith gives him that time by going hard at the ball. Then we know we’ve got power at the end with myself and [Dwayne] Bravo.”
