Sammy Sacked – W.I. T20 Skipper Gets The Boot

DAREN Sammy, who led West Indies to two World T20 titles, has said in a video posted on his Facebook account that he won’t be the West Indies T20 captain anymore.

In the message posted yesterday, Sammy said the chairman of selectors had informed him via a phone call that they had “reviewed the captaincy of T20,” and he did not merit a place in the West Indies squad.

“I got a call today, It was probably 30 seconds, from the chairman of selectors telling me that they’ve reviewed the captaincy of T20 and I won’t be captain anymore of the T20 team, [and] my performances have not merited selection in the squad,” Sammy said in the video.

“That’s ok; I’ve always believed West Indies cricket is not about Daren Sammy. They are looking to the future and I wanna wish the new captain – I don’t know if it’s out yet so I won’t call any names – all the best as he looks to lead West Indies cricket and take it forward.

“Obviously, throughout my captaincy, winning the two [T20] World Cups has been the highlight. And these memories I will cherish for a long time. This is not me retiring from one-day or T20, it’s just me thanking the fans and my players and the coaches I’ve worked with and WICB for…yea, letting me lead the side for the last six years. But for now the captaincy has come to an end and thank you people.

“I just know I played with my heart and soul whenever I stepped out on the cricket field.”

In an emotional six-minute long video, Sammy started by talking about the CPL campaign of his team St. Lucia Zouks, that lost the eliminator to Trinbago Knight Riders on Thursday, before talking about losing his West Indies captaincy and his exclusion from the T20 squad.

The limited-overs team is scheduled to play two T20 matches against India in Florida at the end of the month.

In a similar social media post a month ago, West Indies wicketkeeper DeneshRamdin had tweeted about his exclusion from the Test side that was to play against India at home.

Sammy led West Indies to the World T20 title only four months ago, for the second time after first lifting the trophy in 2012 in Sri Lanka. He led them in 47 T20Is in the past five years, with 27 wins. After winning the T20 title in Kolkata in April this year, he had given an emotional speech at the post-match presentation, expressing his disappointment at the lack of support from WICB.

Since November 2015, Sammy has played eight T20s for West Indies.