Colombo: West Indies skipper Darren Sammy believes that rain spoiled his team’s chances of beating Australia in their Twenty20 World Cup match on Saturday night.
The weather intervened with Australia well-placed on 100 for one chasing 192 to win at the R. Premadasa Stadium here, and Sammy believes the downpour ruined what could have been a thrilling finish, with the Aussies winning the match by 17 runs on the Duckworth/Lewis method.
”I think rain played its part, otherwise it would have been a cracker of a game. We thought we were still in it,” he said.
“They still needed nine runs an over and they had to keep going. So it’s unfortunate that weather played a part, but that’s something we have to get over. We are now looking forward to the next game against Ireland.”
During the Australian innings Dwayne Smith dropped the in-form Shane Watson — and to make matters worse the ball landed over the boundary rope for a six — which could have proved crucial.
“Catches [being dropped] in cricket happen all the time, it’s unfortunate that it did. We all know the saying catches win matches. [Chris] Gayle was given a chance in our innings and we saw how he made them pay. It’s something you can’t control but just have to get right for the next game. However, the build-up was very exciting,” Sammy said.
He added that he had no regrets after electing to bat first.
“We back ourselves to set a target and I think we did that. Probably if we knew about rain later we could have thought about it, but we still back ourselves to set targets and defend them,” he said.
“It’s good we achieved our first target with the bat and that is to put lots of runs on the board. They still needed 90 off 65 and with a wicket or two we were still in the game. We have to believe that we can win this tournament and just do it against Ireland to make sure we qualify to the Super Eights and take it from there.”
Sammy went on to praise both Gayle and Marlon Samuels for their half-centuries.
“It was good to watch. You know the way Gayle plays his innings — it’s always fantastic to watch — and Marlon as well.
“We are a batting team and we have to believe we could set targets and we showed that. And the guys on the bench like [Andre] Russell are eager to come and play too.”
