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By Samuel Peters
West Indies head coach Daren Sammy remains optimistic about his team’s chances of ending their long winless drought in New Zealand, despite facing significant injury setbacks ahead of the upcoming Test series.
The Caribbean side has not tasted victory in New Zealand for over 30 years, but Sammy believes his squad has the right mindset and preparation to challenge the formidable hosts on their home turf.
“In order to win, you must be able to compete. And we have to compete,” Sammy emphasized when discussing the upcoming series. The former West Indies captain, now in his coaching role, acknowledges the magnitude of the challenge but insists success is within reach.
More encouragingly, he highlighted West Indies’ performance in their recent India tour. “We came from India. We pushed India into a five-day Test, something that has not been done in a while in India. So we might not have the numbers behind us coming to New Zealand, but I think the mindset that we have here and what we’re trying to create is good.”
The West Indies arrive in New Zealand significantly weakened by injuries to two key fast bowlers. Both Alzarri Joseph and Shamar Joseph – crucial components of the bowling attack that has proven capable of taking 20 wickets consistently over the past two years – are sidelined.
“The last two years, we’ve had a bowling lineup that could take 20 wickets. I think that’s the first step,” Sammy noted. “Yes, we’re a little bit hindered by the injuries to two of the guys who’ve been very critical in those aspects of the game where we could bowl out teams.”
However, Sammy sees opportunity in adversity. “But we got some young blood eager to go. And before they got here, they were in a three-week camp in Antigua at the academy, putting in the work and starting to prepare on how we want to play.”
While the bowling unit has shown promise, Sammy acknowledged that batting remains a persistent challenge. “Obviously with the batters, that has been a challenge for us. And we continue to find the different skillset in the personnel that we select to be able to execute the roles.”
The key, according to Sammy, lies in execution. “The word I’ve been using from my career, my playing days, my captaincy days – you execute well here in New Zealand.”
He outlined the critical areas for success: “Being able to survive and challenge the new ball with both bat and ball, and being able to make critical decisions or better decisions under pressure. These are things that we talk about, and we have our KPIs in the Test arena.”
Sammy identified the new ball as the decisive factor in West Indies’ recent performances. “I thought the difference in the games we’ve played so far has been the new ball. We challenge them with the new ball and they challenge us even more with the new ball.”
His solution is clear: “As a batting group, we must be able to force the new ball, force a second new ball. Getting that big first innings score is important, so you’re not catching or trying to catch the eight ball in the second innings.”
On the bowling side, the objective is equally straightforward: “With the ball, you must be able to take 20 wickets. That’s the first objective and trusting the process.”
Sammy is under no illusions about the difficulty of the task ahead. “When I took on the job, I knew – I look at, wow, Australia in the Caribbean, India in India, and then New Zealand. This is probably going to be three of the most challenging Test series that I’ll have, anyone would have starting as a coach.”
Yet he remains undaunted. “So I understand the mission and we will continue to work towards getting better. To win, we come here to win.”
Despite the daunting statistics, Sammy drew encouragement from West Indies’ performances in the limited-overs formats during this New Zealand tour. “One thing we’ve shown over here, we challenge them. In the T20 series, in the ODI series, I don’t think the result reflected on how we played.”
The mentality at practice has particularly impressed him. “The mentality I saw at practice, the guys coming over, it’s just been brilliant.”
West Indies will play the hosts in the first match of the three-match series on the 2-6 December at the Hagley Oval. The full squad includes Roston Chase, Jomel Warrican,, Alick Athanaze, John Campbell, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Justin Greaves, Kavem Hodge, Shai Hope, Tevin Imlach, Brandon King, Johann Layne, Anderson Phillip, Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales and Ojay Shields
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