BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – JUST hours after the West Indies historic victory over England in the ICC World Twenty20 Final yesterday (Apr. 3) at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, India, President of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), Wycliffe ‘Dave’ Cameron had admonished captain Darren Sammy for comments he made in a post-match interview.
Sammy, who had dedicated the win to fans in the Caribbean and the Diaspora and was in high praise of the management team, a CARICOM Head of Government and the players, used the opportunity during the interview to vent his frustration over long-standing issues with the WICB.
The all-rounder declared that his team “felt disrespected by the Board coming into the tournament” and he sided with the CARICOM Heads of Government in their call for the disbandment of the President and Executives of the WICB.
“I want to thank the Heads of CARICOM. Throughout this tournament they have been supporting the team,” Sammy said.
Sammy also extended a special thank you to Grenada’s Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell and took another shot at the Board.
“We have gotten emails, we have gotten calls… Prime Minister Mitchell, I know what he is trying to do and I really want to thank him. He sent a very inspiring email to the team this morning and I am yet to hear from our own Cricket Board. That is very disappointing!”
His gratitude and that of his teammates were extended to the Team Manager, pointing out another of the Board’s weakness.
“We had a new Manager in Rawl Lewis, who has never managed a team before. We had no uniforms, no printing, The trouble he went through to just get us in this uniform. I got to give credit to the entire team here.”
Several hours after Sammy’s statement, a press release came out from the WICB’s Headquarters in Antigua in which Sammy was admonished by President Cameron. The admonishment was however stated lower down in the release, which was headlined “WICB President has high praises for World Twenty20 Organisers”.
“The President would like to however apologise for what could be deemed inappropriate comments made by the West Indies' male captain, Darren Sammy, in a post-match interview and would like to apologise on behalf of the WICB to the millions of fans who witnessed (sic). The President has pledged to enquire the reason and will have the matter addressed,” the release read.
According to AFP, Cameron had already appeared to take offence at Sammy’s remarks by tweeting: “When is the last time a critic paid one of your bills? Always remember that when you start to give them your energy.”
The online news agency also reminded of another Cameron’s doings last year when he had to apologise after retweeting a comment from a supporter that West Indies opening batsman Chris Gayle should be given a "retirement package" after a run of low scores.
Recently, the situation has been exacerbated by the rise of lucrative domestic Twenty20 tournaments such as the Indian Premier League (IPL), where West Indies players can earn significantly more by appearing in franchise cricket than they can from the international game.
For several years now the WICB and players were engaged in pay disputes and many WI cricketers were drawn to the more lucrative T20 Indian Premier League and similar tournaments where they are earning more than in the region’s franchise and international cricket.
The release also stated that the WICB intends to meet with the players following this year’s IPL in an effort to seek “common ground”. The Board also intends to seek assistance from the ICC.
“We are fully aware of the financial rewards on offer in the lucrative international T20 leagues, but we believe deeply in the importance of cricket to the people of the region and of West Indies cricket’s place in world cricket. It is therefore a priority to have all of our players competing and available for selection.”
A Reuters report stated that the WICB would share with the players the entire $1.6M prize money for winning the World T20 title and also a portion of sponsorship revenue.
The international media outlet stated that with regards to Sammy’s remark of the Board’s disrespect for the team, WICB Chief Executive Michael Muirhead, during an interview, said the relationship had been repaired.
“Well I’d like to think it was water under the bridge before the tournament started,” Muirhead said, adding: “Yes we had our differences and we had a lot of dialogue and it was made public, but I must say in the end we were able to resolve our differences.”
Reuters also reported Muirhead indicated that President Cameron had congratulated both teams in their victories and stressed that the WICH should get some credit.
“All I can say is, it wasn’t by chance that this happened. We put in a lot of preparations and spent a lot of time in getting both teams ready for this tournament. I leave it up to you (media) now to disclose that to the CARICOM officials, who believe that we may not be doing the job that we ought to do.
“We have a lot more to do and we will just have to intensify those efforts to make sure that those plans are institutionalised and rolled out across the region so we have the production of good players through the systems we are putting in place.”
Playing in the Finals of the 2016 World Twenty20 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata yesterday, both the female and male teams were victorious in their quest for supremacy.
The women played against three-time defending champions Australia and beat them by eight wickets and pulled off the second highest run chase in that category of the tournament’s history.
The Aussies racked up 148 for five with half centuries from Elyse Villani and Meg Lanning, 52 runs each, and Ellyse Perry contributing 28 while Deandra Dottin claimed two wickets for 33 runs.
However, the heroines of the match were 18-year old Hayley Matthews and captain Stafanie Taylor, whose half centuries and 120-run partnership led the WI to victory.
Matthews scored 66 and Taylor 59 in the team’s 149 for two.
Not long after, their male counterparts became the first team to win two World T20 Tournaments since its inauguration in 2007.
The Englishmen, who were vying to achieve the same feat, had their hopes dashed when all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite hammered Ben Stokes for four consecutive sixes in the last over of the match.
The tone was set by Marlon Samuels with a defiant knock of 85. And with 19 runs needed in the final over to surpass England’s 155 for nine, the tallest player in the team unleashed his attack on Stokes and the West Indians took the coveted trophy by four wickets with two balls to spare.
England’s most successful bowler was David Willey who took three wickets for 20 runs.
In England’s 155 for nine, which presented the highest run chase in the history of a World T20 Final, Joe Root produced a scintillating know of 54, while Brathwaite starred again with three scalps for 23 runs and Darren Bravo taking three for 37.
