Sammy fires up West Indies for crucial Sri Lanka series

“Jamaica is a special place,” Sammy said via telephone. “I remember when we first came back after a long time with the South Africa series, the support the Jamaican people gave the West Indies team. It’s always a special place to be at Sabina.”

Although the World Cup campaign brought back hope and excitement, Daren Sammy is now focused on achieving strong results and pushing the team to perform better.

“Just from the spirit I saw in the World Cup, the camaraderie, the passion in which the guys played, the first time back in the Caribbean after the World Cup, I’m looking forward to it,” he said.

After missing automatic qualification for the 2023 World Cup, the West Indies cricket team are now strongly focused on securing direct qualification for the 2027 tournament through their performances in 50-over cricket.

“All games, especially the ODI series against Sri Lanka, are very important for us, and that means getting the points that we need to make that automatic qualification. We have eight ODIs on home soil this year, and we’re going to make all eight count.”

Sammy revealed that a camp began today in Antigua, with training sessions starting tomorrow. The coaching staff is also being bolstered with a batting consultant, said to be joining the staff.

Sammy said a training camp recently started in Antigua and Barbuda and added that the coaching staff will be strengthened by the arrival of a batting consultant.

“We have some new personnel in the camp. Otis Gibson will be doing some work specialising in bowling. I know there’s another batting consultant, and CWI will announce that soon. We’re focusing more on the technical aspects, so that when we bring the tactical side, we are fully equipped to execute.”

Despite Sri Lanka’s high ranking, Sammy is banking on home conditions and crowd support.

“Sri Lanka is coming to the Caribbean, similar conditions to what they’ll have at home, but we’re trying to use our home advantage. The fans will come out and support in Jamaica. We’ve made our home a fortress for us over the last three years. We normally defend our home turf.”

When the teams last met in Sri Lanka in October 2024, Sri Lanka won both the T20I series 2-1 and the ODI series 2-0, giving the West Indies cricket team extra motivation to bounce back this time.

“We’ll need an all-round performance to beat Sri Lanka,” Sammy admitted. “We’ve already qualified for the T20 World Cup in Australia 2028, so all our efforts are geared towards defending our home soil in ODIs. We have 14 ODIs before the qualification deadline, and every single one counts.”