NEW DELHI, India, CMC- Cricket columnist Mark Nicholas has apologised to West Indies T20 captain Darren Sammy and his side for describing them as “short of brains” before the start of the T20 World Cup.
Nicholas, a former Hampshire County Cricket captain and current TV commentator on Australia’s Channel Nine network, angered Sammy when he said the West Indies were, “short of brains but have IPL history in their ranks”.
His apology is contained in his latest article on ESPN Cricinfo and comes after public statements from Sammy objecting to the characterization.
“The third is to offer an unreserved apology to Darren Sammy, a man I hold in the highest regard, to his team and to the coaches around them for the throwaway phrase I used in a recent column on these pages,” said Nicholas.
“I would have made the same apology whatever the results of the day but I do so now in the knowledge that the people of the Caribbean will be celebrating long into the night and well into tomorrow”.
West Indies defeated England by four wickets to win their second T20 World Cup on Sunday.
On the eve of the final against England, Sammy objected to Nicholas’s comments contained in a column for ESPNcricinfo on March 3.
“How could you describe people with no brains? Even animals have brains. We’re not an object, and for me, that comment really set us off,” Sammy said.
“It’s really emotional, for somebody who I respect and have a good rapport with generally, to describe our team – who two years ago were world champions – as guys with no brains. That’s really out of order”.
Nicholas has played county cricket alongside great West Indian fast bowlers the likes of Andy Roberts and Malcolm Marshall.
His apology seemed to have been prompted by West Indies’ miraculous win over England who appeared to be on course for victory heading into the last over of the game.
However four consecutive sixes from Carlos Brathwaite of the first four balls from Ben Stokes reversed the likely outcome and gave West Indies a dramatic win.
“Clearly, the West Indies team is not “short of brains”. I wrote this in a piece that was mainly about India and MS Dhoni and, partly tongue in cheek,” he wrote.
“In three short and ill-conceived sentences I paid lip service to the other teams, casually remarking that West Indies were “short of brains but have IPL history in their ranks”. I did not say West Indies were “brainless” or had “no brains”, as has been misquoted elsewhere, but I did say something unworthy of the game and disrespectful to a great cricketing legacy”.
