IT took the West Indies team two years to win another Test match, ever since they defeated England. The Darren Sammy led side chalked up an impressive 40 run win over Pakistan in the first Digicel Test of their two-match series at the Guyana National Stadium.

Chasing 219 to win, the visitors were romped  to 178-all out on day four with the skipper leading from in front with his fourth five wicket haul in his test playing career, bagging 5 – 29 and Ravi Rampaul collecting  4 – 48.

Ever since the 2011 Cricket World Cup, it’s been nothing but ‘bad-press’ where the West Indies team is concerned as the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and few of its key players – Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Rameresh Sarwan – were engaged in heated public debate on who’s ‘right/wrong’.

But speaking at yesterday’s post match press briefing, Sammy saw the victory as a breath of fresh air for his side, stating that it was a “good feeling” and praised his team for, what he’s a calling, “a total team effort”.

“It was a total team effort with both ball and bat and the way we played together as a team that’s what I’m looking for in the future; the continuous team effort because once we play as a team we will achieve and this was good cricket today [yesterday],” Sammy said.

In the first Innings leg- spinner Bishoo was Sammy’s key marksman as the 25 year-old Guyanese on debut for the West Indies, grabbed 4 – 68 while pacer Rampaul  got 3 – 27 as they  restricted Pakistan for 160 all out as they were  chasing  226.

The second Innings saw Bishoo (24) partnering with Chanderpaul (37) for an all important final wicket stand  after the West Indies had succumbed to a blistering spin bowling attack led by Saeed Ajmal who collected six wickets to add to his five taken in the first innings.

Sammy and his boys responded well on the third day but Asad Shafiq (42), Umar Akmal (47) and
Misbah-ul-Haq (52) found some form and was looking to claw the game in their (Pakistan) favour.

But on the start of the fourth day (yesterday), Rampaul removed Shafiq in the third over he bowled, which immediately set a tone for the rest of the day.

Asked, who was the key man for the team’s performance yesterday Sammy noted that, “I think Ravi started us very well but we all know of Misbah-ul-Haq and what he’s capable of doing, and when he got out and Akmal, we know that getting these two out was crucial for our victory.”

The 28 year-old St Lucian went on the state, “It’s about winning the crucial moments, we had them on the back foot and throughout the test match it was up and down but we won the crucial moment and we came out victorious.
But I can’t stop thanking the team for the support and team effort but we just have to take this form into St Kitts where we will be looking to put in an even better performance”.

Ever since the role of captaincy has been handed to Sammy, critics believe that he had not yet earned a definite spot in the West Indies team based on his performances mostly with the bat. But, he was a bit more consistent with the ball and had shown good improvement over the past year, more notably in the games’ longest format.

However, when confronted on if the West Indies team’s victory in the first Test would make the critics have a different view of his position as Captain, Sammy said that he never plays for self pride, but rather for the ascension of the West Indies team to the top of world cricket again.

“It’s always been good, I go out there to play for the West Indies, it’s not about me, some days you perform, some days you don’t and people will have stuff to say but I’m happy I did it today just like Ravi (Rampaul), (Davendra) Bishoo; all the guys who were on the field did it”

The ‘maroon men’ will now head to Warner Park, Basseterre, St Kitts where they will play Pakistan in the final Test Match.

Its known that since Misbah-ul-Haq cannot win the series like Shahid Afridi did in the ODIs where they won 3-2 and the T20 encounter, Pakistan will certainly be playing to head home on a balance while Sammy will want to salvage some pride and end the series on a winning note.