Gibson was extremely proud to see his team lift the World Twenty20 trophy
West Indies coach Ottis Gibson has announced that he is extremely pleased to see his team all united towards one cause, which is to become the most formidable side in cricket today.
Gibson stated that it was an “amazing feeling” after the West Indies came from behind to beat Sri Lanka in the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Twenty20 final.
“We had difficult periods [in the last two years], but we had signs of progress, if you look at the talent that we have, specially in this format, the power of Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard and Marlon Samuels, the experience of Dwayne Bravo, the brilliance of Sunil Narine, the accuracy of Ravi Rampaul, the way the captain led, it was always the case of if we can harness all that talent and put it in the right direction,” Gibson said.
The West Indies have not been able to put their strongest side together in the last couple of years since there have been numerous disputes between senior players and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).
“It is an amazing thing when players come together for one cause. They all believed in the cause, they all believed that they could win the world cup when we left,” Gibson added.
Gibson also noted that the win was that much more special since the West Indies last won a major ICC tournament back in 1979.
“Clive Lloyd led [the team] to wins in two World Cups and to the final of the third, [they were] great feats. Then for the suffering that has gone on since then and for the last 20 years, to be able to come and lift the trophy, to stay the course, and to ride out the tough times, it is amazing. It shows that if all the talent in the region sticks together, there is more success like this round the corner,” Gibson said.
Gibson mentioned that captain Darren Sammy had played a huge part in uniting the team, and that he deserved special credit for expressing the joy and passion of playing cricket for the West Indies.
“The captain is always going to be under pressure, so is the coach, Sammy stayed calm and true to himself with all the stuff going around and focused on cricket. He didn’t get a chance to perform any great heroics, but he led the team very well. He led the team to victory. The team itself followed him, were happy to be led by him, they took directions from him. At the end of the day, it is not about one person, it is about 15 players and 9 management people who left home together to go and win the world cup,” Gibson said.
However, Gibson was disappointed not to be able to celebrate the win with all the players since some of them are in South Africa for the Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20).
But nevertheless, Gibson called on his team to use this victory as a confidence booster to rise through the rankings in all three formats of the game.
The next assignment for the West Indies will be a two-Test series against Bangladesh in November.
“Test cricket is still the pinnacle for me. There were lot of players who didn’t get an opportunity in this T20 World Cup, who are looking forward to playing in the two test matches in Bangladesh,” Gibson said.