Windies' road to World Cup more difficult, Sammy says

HARARE, Zimbabwe, CMC – West Indies head coach Daren Sammy conceded that the road to the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 India became harder for his side after their devastating loss against hosts Zimbabwe in the Qualifier on Saturday.

The Caribbean dropped to third in Group A and could face a difficult road in the next stage of the Qualifier after Zimbabwe took a decisive step towards topping the group with a dramatic 35-run win, and Netherlands eased past Nepal by seven wickets to move into second.

West Indies dropped two points, which they could have carried forward to the Super Sixes (two points are carried forward for each win against other teams that qualify from their group), but Sammy said the qualifying tournament was not yet over.

“I wouldn't say it hampers us, but it makes it more difficult,” he said. “You know you would love to go into the Super Six with four points. We knew from the time we left home this game would have been very important to us.

“The way we've played, I keep telling the guys we kept on winning games by not playing our best cricket and again we ask so much of ourselves. When you put on a display of fielding like we did and then you get yourself in good positions and take the game for granted, the cricket gods will make you pay.”

He added: “That's exactly what I'm going to tell them in the dressing room. We did not deserve to win. We did not play to win. Now, we have a lot of work to do, firstly to get to the Super Sixes, and then take on the other teams that we face, and we've made our road to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 a bit more difficult.

“But you know me, I don't give up on anything. I'll keep on encouraging the boys and challenging them to be better because the train that I've started here is going to be moving, and I keep telling them that who wants to take a ticket, they gonna have to come and buy it from the ticket office, and at the moment, some of us are not buying that ticket for that train to move on.”

Sammy condemned his side for their sloppy fielding during the Zimbabwe innings, after they dropped four chances, including two to top scorer Sikandar Raza, the Player-of-the-Match, whose 68 off 58 balls and 87-run stand for the fifth wicket with Ryan Burl propelled the hosts to 268 all out.

Sammy said it was vital for his side to win the final group match against the Netherlands on Monday at the Takashinga Cricket Club.

“We have to be in that game as quickly as possible,” he said. “I'm thinking about how I'm going to approach the guys in the dressing room. But look, there's no time to cry and think about it too much. We got to get our positive mindset and game face on and do it again on Monday.

“Monday becomes very important for us and we will look at the squad and combination and we will come up with the best one to go out and win the game. We will not take this [Zimbabwe] victory as the end of the road. I have a strong feeling that this West Indies team will bounce back. Sometimes, you just need a good wake-up call to make you understand and appreciate the opportunity we have here.”

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