West Indies captain Darren Sammy hailed Sunday's World Twenty20 triumph as the start of a new golden chapter for Caribbean cricket.
The West Indies secured a 36-run victory over Sri Lanka in a dramatic final in Colombo, its first world title since the 50-over World Cup triumph under Clive Lloyd in 1979.
"This is just the start, we will go far," Sammy said.
The West Indies, restricted to 6 for 137 after electing to bat, hit back to bowl the hosts out for 101 in front of 35,000 spectators at the Premadasa stadium that included Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse.
Sammy's men handed Sri Lanka their fourth defeat in a major final since 2007.
"This is the start of something special for the West Indies team and the fans back home," said Sammy.
"I will always cherish this moment. The team has been through a lot in the past few years, but there was belief amongst us that we could win the World T20.
"Today we were down and out, but our never-say-die attitude came out. We expected Sri Lanka to come hard at us and they did, but we never gave up and that helped us win."
Sammy said people back home will celebrate the win wildly because they had craved for years for a success like this.
"From Jamaica to Guyana the party must have started," he said. "And I tell you we know how to party. I am sure they will need a lot of bartenders out there tonight."
Sammy showered praise on middle-order batsman Marlon Samuels, who engineered the victory with a superb 78 off 56 balls that included six sixes and three boundaries.
"He has been brilliant in this tournament and lived up to our expectations," said Sammy of Samuels, who served a two-year-ban from 2008 to 2010 for alleged links with bookmakers.
Samuels' brilliant strokeplay, which earned him the man of the match award, helped the West Indies add 105 runs in the last 10 overs after it was reduced to 32-2 from the first 10.
He was particularly severe on Lasith Malinga whose four overs went for 54 runs.
Sri Lanka lost opener Tillekeratne Dilshan for a duck to a superb swinging delivery from Ravi Rampaul, but with Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara at the crease the hosts looked well capable of victory.
After a stand of 42, in the space of three overs Sangakkara holed out to Kieron Pollard off Samuel Badree and the skipper was caught by his opposite number Sammy when reverse-sweeping Sunil Narine.
In between these dismissals, Sammy (2 for 6), who earlier contributed a crucial 26 off 15 balls, bowled the dangerous Angelo Matthews for one.
With these three gone the Sri Lankan cause was effectively lost.
Defeat was especially harsh on spinner Ajantha Mendis who took 4 for 12 to finish the tournament as the leading wicket-taker.
AFP/ABC
Tags: sport, cricket, twenty20, sri-lanka First posted October 08, 2012 06:57:11
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