An emotional Darren Sammy thanked his players and coaching staff after captaining West Indies to ICC World Twenty20 glory .
Sammy scored just eight runs and bowled three overs in the tournament, but more than played his part in the triumph – winning the toss six times in as many matches and lighting up press conferences.
After Marlon Samuels and Carlos Brathwaite sealed a dramatic four-wicket win over England to make the Windies the first side to win two World T20s, Sammy said: “I’m going to celebrate with these 15 men and coaching staff.
“I don’t know when I’m going to be playing with these guys again because we don’t get selected for one-day cricket. We don’t know when we’re going to be playing T20.
“So this win, I want to thank you my team, I want to thank you coaching staff.”
Referencing all-rounder Dwayne Bravo’s viral song, Sammy added: “Everybody know West Indies are champion!”
While revelling in victory, Sammy followed in the footsteps of man-of-the-match Marlon Samuels – who hit out at criticism from Shane Warne post-match – by pouring scorn on those who questioned his side’s credentials.
“I want to thank the almighty, because without him nothing is possible,” Sammy added.
“I’m really happy for this win and it’s something we are going to cherish for a long time.
“I’ve said we have 15 match-winners. Nobody gave us a chance but every game somebody stepped up and took responsibility.
“To see Carlos [Brathwaite] play like that in his debut World [Twenty20], it’s just tremendous.
“It shows the depth we have in the Caribbean in T20 cricket and hopefully with the right structure and development our cricket will continue to improve in one-day and Test cricket.
Everybody know say #wi a #champion giving thanks to the most high #thankyouJesus #Forthefans https://t.co/j40AdeArmh
— Darren Sammy (@darrensammy88) April 3, 2016
“People were wondering whether we would play this tournament. We had a lot of issues, we felt disrespected by our board, Mark Nicholas described our team as a team with no brains. All these things before the tournament just brought this team together.
“I really want to thank these 15 men, the ability to just put all those adversities aside and to come out and play this type of cricket in front of such passionate fans, it’s just tremendous.
“I personally also want to thank the coaching staff, coach Phil [Simmons], he’s been through a lot, and to come here and the way he’s coached the team, he’s just brilliant.
“All the other coaching staff, who have done their part. We had a new manager in this tournament in Rawl Lewis, he had never managed any team before. He came here, we were at a camp in Dubai, but we had no uniforms. He left Dubai, went to Kolkata, that’s where he started.
“The trouble he went to, to get us in this uniform – I have got to give credit to the entire team here, it was us in our own little circle, this win we dedicate it to all our fans in the Caribbean.
“Lastly I really want to thank the heads of CARICOM, throughout this tournament they have been supporting the team, we’ve got emails, we’ve got phone calls, Prime Minister [Keith] Mitchell [of Grenada]. He sent a very inspiring email for the team this morning.”
Source: ECB