DHAKA – Two West Indian cricketers have been included in the team of the tournament following the conclusion of the ICC World Twenty20 in Bangladesh last Sunday.
Selectors have named leg spinner Samuel Badree and his captain Darren Sammy, while including seamer Krishmar Santokie as the 12th man.
West Indies were beaten by eventual winners Sri Lanka on the Duckworth/Lewis method in the semi-finals, after coming through a group that included Australia, Pakistan and beaten finalists India.
“I thought I handled the pressure well, especially bowling in the power play,” said Badree, who was the Caribbean team’s leading wicket-taker with 11 wickets at a miserly average of 10.27.
“I thought myself and [Krishmar] Santokie did quite a good job (trying to keep the runs down and take wickets). We worked well in tandem.”
Badree, who opened the bowling and regularly got early wickets while maintaining an economy rate of 5.65, said his work in the tournament was among his most outstanding in the T20 format.
“I think it is up there with some of my best performances in terms of getting wickets and maintaining a decent economy rate, [especially since]
I was bowling against some of the best players in the world,” he told the Trinidad Express.
“We were in the tougher group of the two. It was always going to be difficult. But we did it through grit and determination.”
Sammy was included on the basis of his consistent and dynamic batting towards the end of the innings that earned him an average of 101.00 at a strike rate of 224.44.
His high score of 42 not out against Pakistan helped set up an 84-run win that guaranteed a semi-final spot, while his unbeaten 34 against Australia in the previous match included the two winning sixes in the final over.
The team of the tournament includes four players from India, two from both South Africa and West Indies, and one representative each from Australia, Netherlands and Sri Lanka.
“As the selection criteria for the team of the tournament are the performances of players in the conditions during the ICC World Twenty20 2014, some of the best players in world cricket had to be left out of the team,” said David Boon, selection panel chairman and member of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC match referees.
“Bowlers, in particular, performed strongly throughout this tournament and the side we have selected includes three of the most impressive bowlers in Dale Steyn, Samuel Badree and Lasith Malinga.”
Meantime, the West Indies Women also secured two selections – Stafanie Taylor and Deandra Dottin – in the team of the tournament following the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.
Taylor and Dottin were the leading scorers for West Indies who lost narrowly in the semi-finals to Australia, the eventual champions for a third time running.
