Sports
West Indies great has his say on what went wrong in Australia
Two-time ICC Men’s T20 World Cup winning captain Daren Sammy has revealed where he thinks it all went wrong for the West Indies at this year’s event and what the Caribbean side needs to do to become a powerhouse again. Sammy knows better than most what it takes to perform on the big stage, with the 38-year-old having captained the West Indies to many of their greatest successes in the shortest format of the game and leading the team to T20 World Cup titles in 2012 and 2016. And just like many other former greats, Sammy was shocked to see his old team bundled out of the tournament during the First Round in Australia as they fell to disappointing losses to Scotland and Ireland.
Sammy believes the West Indies got much wrong during their time in Australia and they were tactically inept during much of their three First Round matches.
“I thought as a team we were quite poor tactically and the problem wasn’t the calibre of players as we had enough talent to play much better,” Sammy said.
“The cricket we play now doesn’t match the talent we have in the team.
“The team lacked inspiration, they lacked motivation and tactically we were not on song.
“When you look at a wicket and you have Jason Holder who is six-foot-eight inches and you have Alzarri Joseph who is bowling well and you keep opening the bowling with Kyle Mayers.
“No disrespect to Mayers as conditions in St Lucia in the Caribbean are quite different to Australia where the ball bounces”.
“You have got to win the Powerplays both with the bat and the ball, and we found ourselves losing the Powerplays and having to bring the bowlers back on to try and bring us back into the game, and it was the same with the bat.”
The fallout from the West Indies’ performance was swift, with Australia great Ricky Ponting labelling their efforts a disgrace and Cricket West Indies President Ricky Skerritt promising a full review into what went wrong Down Under.Experienced coach Phil Simmons also announced he would stand down from his position at the end of the year and Sammy knows the West Indies must get their next coaching appointment right.
“The sad thing is that not many people are putting their hands up to come and coach the West Indies,” Sammy noted.
“Even though we were not performing at Tests and ODI, we dominated T20I cricket (during his playing career) and that was something that would bring smiles to the fans and now we have lost it.
“Whoever comes in as coach needs to be tactically sound, have good man management skills and the people around him need to be technically correct.”
Sammy is adamant that the culture must change quickly otherwise the West Indies will find themselves in a mire for some time.
“There needs to be some learnings and some teachings about what we represent as whether you like it or not, West Indies is still every fan’s second favourite team,” Sammy said.
“The world needs West Indies cricket to be strong and we were not there tactically and I have spoken about that.
“There needs to be a new inspiration as the team outgrew the staff in the dressing room. 
“But we have the guys. You look at Jason Holder, Nicholas Pooran, Rovman Powell, Shai Hope, there is no lack of talent.
“It is about picking the right personnel for the situation and the different stages that the game needs with proper planning and the right players for the right time.” (ICC)
By A Special Sports Correspondent
Kandy Sports Club crowned themselves as ‘Cup Championship’ winners in the inter-club league rugby tournament when they overcame their final hurdle by beating Havelocks Sports Club by 50 points to 24 at Nittawela last evening.
Kandy SC was anyway assured of the title this season before this final game of the season even began, given that they were unbeaten thus far in the league tournament. Kandy SC collected their points through seven tries, six conversions and a penalty while Havelocks Sports Club responded with a three converted tries and a penalty.
Kandy SC set the pace for the game from the kick off itself and recorded first half tries through Dinal Ekanayake, Srinath Sooriyabandara, Kenula Hettiarachchi and Dahan Wickremaarachchi and all four conversions were slotted in by Tharinda Ratwatte. Havelocks SC got most of their points in the first half through Sandesh Jayawickreme who scored a try and booted through a conversion. The penalty for the Park Club was kicked right by Samuel Maduwantha.
Kandy SC faced some resistance from Havies after the turn around, but the side from Nittawela found the try line by breaking through a barrage of tackles from the men wearing the pink and chocolate jerseys.
Dahan Wickremaarachchi started the ball rolling for Kandy with a try after the turn around which took the side’s score to 38 with the conversion. Havies played in patches thereafter and scored through Jayathu Rajaratne and Janidu Fernando. Jayawickreme was spot on with the conversions.
Kandy’s Ethen Schneider Loos smashed his way through for the side’s sixth try which was converted by Ratwatte. Kandy had the game in the bag despite Havies playing attacking rugby whenever they had possession. But the score line deference that Kandy maintained throughout the game made it hard for Havies to make a real comeback into the game.
The Nittwala side erupted in jubilation when Ekanayake punted ahead and sent crowd favourite Nigel Ratwatte for the seventh and final try. There was speculation throughout the game that this would be Nigel’s final game for the Kandy SC side. Surprisingly Tharinda missed the conversion.
At the awards presentation ceremony after the game, Kandy Sports Club’s Tharinda Ratwatte was named as the highest points scorer for the 2024/25 league rugby season. He has accumulated 139 points this season.
Havelocks Sports produced the highest try scorer for the season. That award went to Jayathu Rajaratne of Havies. He has had 16 touchdowns this season. Havelocks Sports Club had to be satisfied with the runners-up trophy at the awards presentation. Players from both sides including the coaching staff were presented with medals by the organisers of the tournament.
Meanwhile CR&FC did well in their last outing in the Cup Championship segment of the league tournament when they beat Air Force by 31 points to 16 at Longden Place.
In the two Plate Segment matches, Sri Lanka Navy beat Sri Lions by 41 points to 38 at Race Course.In the other match of the Plate segment, Police SC beat Army SC by 24 points to 17. The match was played at Police Park.
Mutthusami Sivarajan and Rasara Wijesuriya won the men’s and women’s Cross Country Championships of the National Sports Festival conducted in Nuwara Eliya.
Sivarajan representing Central Province returned a time of 34 minutes and 21 seconds to finish ahead of Samantha Pushpakumara and Damith Hemantha Kumara.
In the women’s category, Wijesuriya from Eastern Province clocked 38 minutes and 41 seconds finish ahead of Madhushani Herath and Chamini Herath.
Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ Limited Overs Cricket
by Reemus Fernando
Trinity advanced to the final of the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ Limited Overs Cricket tournament with six wickets victory over arch rivals St. Anthony’s in the semi-final played at BRC ground on Saturday.
Open batsman Dimantha Mahavithana held Trinity’s batting together with a valuable knock of 74 runs inclusive of six fours. He was out after leveling scores. Chaniru Senarathne added a fourth wicket stand of 82 runs with Mahavithana and remained unbeaten on 44.
Deciding to bowl first, Trinity did well to take three quick wickets.
Malith Rathnayake who opened bowling with Sethmika Senavirathne took three wickets as he completed his full quota of ten overs for 23 runs. Senavirathne did not take a wicket but he bowled an economical spell giving away just 20 runs in his eight overs.
Sweath Anurajeewa took three wickets for 25 runs (8 overs) while Chaniru Senarathne, Vathila Udara and Jayavi Liyanagama grabbed a wicket each.
Trinity will now meet St. Joseph’s in the final which will be played after the O/L exams.
St. Joseph’s eliminated Gurukula to book their final berth.
Trinity are in the semi-final stage of the two-day tournament as well.
Scores:
St. Anthony’s 158 all out in 50 overs (Sadew Amarakoon 31, Kaushika Kumarasinghe 35, Kevan Fernando 34n.o.; Malith Rathnayake 3/23, Sweath Anurajeewa 3/25)
Trinity 159 for 4 in 45.3 overs (Dimantha Mahavithana 74, Aadham Hilmy 22, Chaniru Senarathne 44n.o.; Ryan Gregory 2/30)
Showers in Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern and North-western provinces and in Kandy district after 2.00 p.m.
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