After the thrilling win against the England in the World T20 final, West Indies captain delivered an emotional speech when the host Nasser Hussain asked him to compare this victory with 2012 victory.
Below is the transcript of his speech as provided by Cricbuzz.
“Firstly, I want to thank the almighty. We have a pastor in the team – Andre Fletcher, who kept praying. Really happy with this win and this is something that we will cherish for a long time. It was serious hitting from Brathwaite. It said before that we have 15 match winners in the side. Every game somebody took responsibility. To see him play like that in his debut World Cup was amazing. Hopefully, with the right structure and development, we’ll get better in ODIs and Tests as well. (Nasser Hussain asks Sammy to compare this win with the 2012 victory. Sammy says, “Nass, do you really want me to tell you, okay.” And the speech starts) We started our journey. We all know what we had. People were wondering whether we would play this tournament. We had a lot of issues and we felt disrespected by our board. Mark Nicholas described our team as a team of ‘no brains.’ All these things just before the tournament brought this team together. I want to really thank these 15 men with. The ability to put all those adversity aside and to come out and play this type of cricket in front of such passionate fans… it’s just tremendous. I personally also want to thank the coaching staff. Coach Phil (Simmons). He’s been through a lot. To come here and the way he’s coached this team.. he’s just brilliant. All the other coaching staff who have done their part. We had a new manager in this tournament in Rawl Lewis, who has never managed any team before. He came here. We had a camp in Dubai. We had no uniforms. No printing. He left Dubai, went to Kolkata.. that’s where we started. The trouble he went through to get us in this uniform.. I got to give credit to the entire team here. It was us in our own little circle. We dedicate this win to all the fans in the Caribbean… (Sammy becomes a bit emotional). And lastly I want to find the heads of Caricom. Throughout this tournament they have been supporting the team. We have got emails, we have got calls. Prime Minister Mitchell, I know what he’s trying to do. I really want to thank him and he sent a very inspiring message to the team this morning… and we are yet to hear from our own cricket board and that is very disappointing. For today, I am going to celebrate with these 15 men and this coaching staff. I don’t know when I am going to be playing with these guys again, because we don’t get selected for one-day cricket. We don’t know when we are going to be playing T20s. So this win.. I want to thank you my team. I want to thank you coaching staff. Everybody in the West Indies are champion.” As soon as the speech ends, there is a big roar from his team-mates! Gee, that was some emotional speech from Sammy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9hJWmL5Hpk&feature=youtu.be