BRIDGETOWN, Barbados  (CMC) – West Indies captain Darren Sammy has warned Australia to expect more of his side’s fighting spirit when the three-Test series bowls off here next weekend. He was speaking Friday after West Indies produced another sensational effort to beat the Aussies by 14 runs and tie the two-match Twenty20 series 1-1.
The performance was the latest show of resilience, a quality that came to the fore when they fought back during the preceding five-match one-day series to earn a 2-2 tie.
“Two and two, one and one. I think one-all in the Test series would be a perfect result for the home series, Sammy quipped.
“We now have the belief in the team that we can compete and win against top-ranked teams.
“We’re going to carry that same mentality towards the Tests. That’s what we’ve got to keep telling the boys, once we believe, we can achieve. We’re going to play fearless cricket when we’re at home. We intend to deliver.”
West Indies bowled off the one-day series badly, slumping to a disappointing 64-run loss in the first match of the tripleheader in St Vincent.
They stormed back to win the second match by five wickets, carved out a dramatic tie in the third when they appeared dead to rights, before winning the fourth match by 42 runs.
The regional side then lost back-to-back matches – the fifth ODI by 30 runs and the first T20 by eight wickets – but Friday’s outing again displayed their tenacity.
“From the start of the series, we all know how the Australians play and we decided from the time we went to India (last year) we were going to play fearless cricket and that’s the same thing we did in this competition,” Sammy explained.
“We’re going to stand up to them if they stand up to us. (We will) keep it clean but we will be very competitive and that’s what you’ve been seeing throughout this series which is good as long as we don’t disrespect our opponents and keep it in the spirit of the game.
“It was very good to see our boys showing fight and heart out there.”
On Friday at Kensington Oval, West Indies suffered a bad collapse, slumping from 110 for two to 160 all out as they lost their last eight wickets for 50 runs.
Australia were running away with the game at 64 for one in the eighth over until the Windies hit back strongly to restrict them to 146 for nine.
“It (morale) is very good. I think that’s what propelled us to perform (on Friday). The team spirit, the never-say-die attitude, each man fighting for the man next to him and that’s been the mantra of this unit and it’s good we got the result out there on the field,” Sammy said.
“We just lost wickets. (Dwayne) Smith and (Johnson) Charles gave us a good start. It’s been something that has been happening to us throughout the series that when we lose wickets we lose them in clusters and today (Friday) was no different.
“But the belief and character of the team has been shown. The bowlers backed the batsmen … by defending that total.”
Sammy said the turning point of the game was the run-out of dangerous opener David Warner.
He was punishing the Windies bowlers with five fours and three sixes in his 43-ball 58 when he was brilliantly run-out by Dwayne Bravo’s direct throw from mid-on.
“That was the game-changer right there. Warner was batting really, really well and that’s something Bravo is used to doing,” Sammy explained.
“He’s an impact player and … he had a big impact with that run-out and from there the momentum just shifted. We kept pushing at them and we won in the end which was good for us.”