No Letting Up Against India Says Sammy

Chennai, India – The West Indies will approach Sunday’s match against India with the same level of intensity and focus they have demonstrated throughout their ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 campaign. This is the message from captain Darren Sammy as he spoke ahead of the team’s final Group B match slated for the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk.

Darren Sammy. Photo by Shiek Mohamed

First ball in the day/night encounter is 2.30 pm (5 am Eastern Caribbean Time/4 am Jamaica Time).

“All the players are in good spirits and all of them will come out hard tomorrow. I know how important a game it is against India. For us, I am sure everybody will give their 100 percent. I back everybody to take on to their responsibility,” Sammy said.

“You could say it has been a bit up and down for us, but we won some key matches and that put us in the position we are in. We played well in stages against England and we know we should have won that match. We have got to focus against India and look to get a win tomorrow. We want to build momentum and keep the momentum going,” Sammy said.

The 27-year-old noted that the team’s morale was high despite the 18-run defeat against England on Thursday. He added that the squad members held several discussions and indentified the key areas where they have been coming up short.

“We came close to victory against England and we want to go one better against India. We are aware we are closer to winning against teams ranked higher than we are,” Sammy reasoned.

“The key thing is that when the opportunities present themselves, we need to grab them. In our matches against South Africa at home [June and July 2010] and then in Sri Lanka [January and February 2011] there were key moments but we slipped up. Therefore, it is important that when such moments arise, we need to seize them from here on,” Sammy said.

The Windies Number 88 was also full of praise for newcomers Andre Russell, the tall fast bowling allrounder, and Devendra Bishoo, the diminutive leg-spinner. Both played key roles in the match against England.

“They are both newcomers to the team but they both did remarkably well. Russell took responsibility with both ball and bat and came close to winning the match for us. Bishoo was confident from the start and fitted in very well. He bowled an excellent spell against England and it was great to see the control he had and his ability to turn the ball.”