Kolkata: April 3rd was the day of West Indies because both the West Indies men’s and women’s teams won the title of world cup t20, 2016.Both the teams united as one,shouting, laughing and singing and swaying to the now famous tune by Dwayne Bravo.
The match held at the Kolkata’s Eden Garden where Carlos Brathwaite,27 had smacked four of the most outrageous sixes that we saw in the last over of T20.A little over six hours before , Hayley Mathews, who turned 18 amid the women's World Twenty20 tournament, was named Player of the Match for her 66 off 45 balls to drive West Indies women to their first title, in their first appearance at one.
It was straight from the heart and dedicated at his team-mates, the coaching staff, the support staff, the cricket lovers of the Caribbean.
Sammy said,"We started our journey. We all know what we had. People were wondering whether we would play this tournament. We had a lot of issues and we felt disrespected by our board. Mark Nicholas described our team as a team of 'no brains.' All these things just before the tournament brought this team together. I want to really thank these 15 men. The ability to put all those adversity 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. To come here and the way he's coached this 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, who has never managed any team before. He came here. We had a camp in Dubai. We had no uniforms. No printing. He left Dubai, went to Kolkata ... That's where we started. The trouble he went through to get us in this uniform”
He added, "I got to give credit to the entire team here. It was us in our own little circle. We dedicate this win to all the fans in the Caribbean,"
"And lastly I want to find the heads of CARICOM. Throughout this tournament they have been supporting the team. We have got emails, we have got calls. Prime Minister Mitchell, I know what he's trying to do. I really want to thank him and he sent a very inspiring message to the team this morning ... and we are yet to hear from our own cricket board and that is very disappointing. For today, I am going to celebrate with these 15 men and this coaching staff.
I don't know when I am going to be playing with these guys again, because we don't get selected for one-day cricket. We don't know when we are going to be playing T20s. So this win, I want to thank you my team. I want to thank you coaching staff. Everybody in the West Indies are champion."
On April 3rd 2016, Sunday, two champion West Indies teams made Eden Gardens a slice of Caribbean cricket history. No one can take that away from them.
