Never say die attitude helped us -WI captain Sammy

[Elmo Rodrigopulle - Reporting]

The announcement by Mahela Jayawardene that he was quitting Captaining the Twenty20 Sri Lanka cricket team took journalists by surprise. He revealed this at the post match press briefing after the World Cup Twenty20 final on Sunday night.

Jayawardene in making this decision said that in doing so he would be giving the selectors the opportunity of grooming a captain who could build a team for the next Twenty20 in Bangladesh in 2014. The selectors led by Asantha de Mel will not have it easy finding a captain of Jayawardene’s calibre. The likes of Jayawardene do not come that easy. Chairman of selectors De Mel has the experience to pick a winner. And it will be interesting to watch who will step into Jayawardene’s boots.

Glowing tribute – sub head

At the press briefing Jayawardene paid a glowing tribute to the cricket fans for supporting them at every venue they played. He regretted that he failed to repay that support by winning the Twenty20 World Cup.

The Captain was lavish in his praise for the hard hitting West Indian batsman Marlon Samuels who took the game away from them with a blistering knock of 78 in 36 balls with 3 fours and 6 sixes.

‘We went well up to the first 10 overs. They had to go for it from this point. A couple of mistakes on the field and a few bad overs shifted the balance. When we batted the early loss of Tillekeratne Dilshan stalled the momentum.

Kept pressure

‘The Windies bowlers bowled really well. We had to keep the pressure on which we failed to do. We need to sit down, have a good chat and move on, said Jayawardene who will not be seen again as T20 captain.

The Lankans surprisingly failed to hold their nerve and ride the pressure. The panic in the middle order and the run outs of Jeevan Mendis and Thisara Perera proves this. An elated West Indian Captain Darren Sammy said that they had been showing the never say die attitude, but the results were not forthcoming. Speaking of Marlon Samuels knock, Sammy said he had missed two years of cricket. But he has scored a lot of runs since returning to the game. This success will be the beginning of things to come. Hopefully the team will move on.

Champions Trophy

West Indies last won a trophy in 2004 – the Champions Trophy in England beating England in the final at Lord’s in semi darkness.

Under Clive Lloyd they won the first two World Cups in 1975 and1979 beating Australia. Sammy also expressed his gratitude to all those who supported them during the tournament. ‘Thank you to everyone who supported us. The tournament is for the fans. The love we felt from the Sri Lankan people is tremendous and we want to thank them for that’, he said.

‘When we left the Caribbean, the idea was to win the Twenty20 World Cup. The team has been through a lot in the past two years, for the last 10 years. We believed. Today we were down and out, but our never say die attitude came out’, he concluded.

The Windies were one of the pre tournament favourites to win the Cup.

Sammy’s reign as Captain was also in question. But by winning the 2012 Twenty20 World Cup he will be given an extension.