MOHALI, India (CMC) – West Indies captain Darren Sammy yesterday said the bus-stoning incident was a thing of the past and the side were concentrating on the remainder of the World Cup campaign.
The bus carrying the Caribbean side was attacked by angry fans following the home side’s embarrassing nine-wicket defeat in Dhaka last Friday.
West Indies who are third in Group B with four points from three matches, are gearing up to face Ireland here this morning (midnight Thursday, Eastern Caribbean time) as they go in search of their third win of the tournament.
“The incident in Bangladesh is behind us. The coach had a say on that and it’s an issue we have put to rest. It was quite an unfortunate thing to happen but we are over that and the guys are geared up to face Ireland tomorrow,” Sammy told reporters.
“We have already seen an upset and might see some more as the tournament progresses. So it is important that we stick to our basics. Consistency is very important in this tournament going forward. We had two convincing wins so we will be riding on that, take the positives and put them into the next game.”
The incident sparked controversy with ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat describing the stoning of the bus as “a minor incident” not worthy of serious sanctions.
He was subsequently blasted by Windies coach Ottis Gibson who labelled the statement as “ridiculous”.
Sammy said, however, that despite the off-field issues his unit had remained focused on their mandate.
“One good thing about West Indies as a team is that we always had good camaraderie. We always stick together, so we are always like a family on tours,” he pointed out.
“Last few days have been up and down but we stuck together as a team. We have been managing the side distractions quite well. We control what we can. We are here to play cricket and the higher administration is there to handle the side distractions.”