Sammy nod likely

Darren Sammy (FP)

Sun, July 17, 2011 - 6:00 PM

PORT-OF-SPAIN – Chairman of the West Indies cricket selectors, Clyde Butts, has given Darren Sammy’s leadership his stamp of approval and has hinted that he is likely to continue as captain for the proposed tours of Bangladesh and India later this year.

Sammy was appointed in the role last November, replacing talismanic Jamaican Chris Gayle ahead of the tour of Sri Lanka. His tenure came to an end when the three-Test series against India finished last week.

“There is no problem with his captaincy on the field. Of course, as selectors, there are always times when we look on and believe things could be done differently, but I am impressed by him,” Butts stated in an interview on i95.5 FM radio in Trinidad.

“I think there is no doubt in my mind that he will be considered for the job in the future, but we have not made a decision as yet . . . .

“To be fair, we are going to Bangladesh later in the year and so we will have to make our recommendation pretty soon. Sammy has bowled pretty well, and captained the team on the field well.”

Sammy presided over the nil-all draw in the rain-hit three-Test series against Sri Lanka before losing the three-match one-day series 2-0.

He then led the Windies to a quarter-final spot at the World Cup and had mixed fortunes for Pakistan’s tour of the Caribbean, losing the One-Day International (ODI) series 3-2 and drawing the Test series 1-1.

West Indies lost the ODI series against India 3-2 and the three-match Test series 1-0.

Butts admitted that one of the problems with the captaincy was the dearth of candidates which left the selection panel with little to choose from.

The problem has been worsened by the fact that Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Ramnaresh Sarwan, three of the most senior players on the team, have no central contracts with the West Indies Cricket Board.

“The selectors have not yet sat down as a group to discuss this matter but if you look around the current team and players, most of them have not been in any captaincy role in the region and this is not an easy task,” Butts lamented.

“At one time, we were considering having different captains in some of the different versions of the game but that was before we had the situation when some players were unavailable. It might still happen in the future, we will see,” the former Test off-spinner said.

West Indies are scheduled to tour Bangladesh in November before taking aim at India in November and December. (CMC)