We have the belief, thunders Sammy

Darren Sammy dared the opponents to stop West Indies from hitting boundaries as he discussed West Indies’ batting firepower ahead of their World T20 final against England here on Sunday.

Excerpts:

On England’s death bowling: We are not taking anything away from England, they have improved in every game since that defeat to us. They have their strengths and it’s up to us to come up with better plan than they what they execute. I just want it to be an exciting match where cricket is the winner. We have good bowling as well, I think we bowled really, really well in this tournament as well and it’s going to be match-up of skill vs skill and man power vs man power. I know we will win in the celebration part. But also what is most important is playing a good brand of cricket that will help you to win. We have that belief in that dressing room that our brand will make us victorious come Sunday.

On confidence while chasing: I think since the inception of T20 you’ve seen West Indies is a boundary-hitting team so that’s no surprise for me. We know the power we have in the dressing room so it was exciting to watch in the dressing room. (Lendl) Simmons, (Andre) Russell and Charles (Johnson) displayed that type of batting — boundary hitting — against India but it’s another match, one last step for us in the tournament. We’ll focus on England but more or less focus on us and we believe if we do what West Indies can do best, we’ll always be destructive in this format.

On looking back at the month: It’s been a tough journey. A lot happened before the tournament. I believe that everything always happens for a reason. I think the pre-tournament shenanigans brought us really closer together as a team. I don’t know if you’ve heard the coach say it, the players have said it — it feels like it’s us against everybody else. We came here after winning the tournament in 2012, a hailstorm knocked us out in Bangladesh, the year before we were in the semifinals.

It’s a format we’ve been consistent in but every year nobody gives us a chance. All these things brought this team together. I think the fact that a few of us are getting old now, we are aware that it could be the last for a few key players and that brought us closer; we formed our own little circle.

On David (WI) beating Goliath (India) and if they are still David: We’re always David. David is a winner. Look, even now, I still don’t think people give us a chance. I said – Goliath was big and strong but David defeated him with a sling and one shot. We always see ourselves as David and we will play like David, be smart about it, believe in ourselves in the dressing room and in each other, and like I’ve said before, if we do all these things with that belief in ourselves, we’re going to lift the cup.