West Indies head coach Daren Sammy has set his sights on turning the regional side into a championship-winning team before the next T20 World Cup in 2026.
With the West Indies having won four of their last five T20 series, including a 3-0 whitewash of South Africa in May, Sammy believes the team is on the right path but needs to evolve further to become true world champions.
As the white-ball head coach, Sammy is focused on guiding his team through a period of fine-tuning and development as they prepare for the future. Despite recent successes, the West Indies were eliminated at the Super 8 stage by South Africa in the recently concluded T20 World Cup, highlighting the need for more consistency in tournament play.
Sammy, who captained the West Indies to T20 World Cup titles in 2012 and 2016, knows what it takes to win on the global stage. He emphasized the importance of continuous improvement and the need to move beyond just winning series.
A championship-winning team
“We need to find ways to continuously evolve and improve. I want us to become a championship-winning team,” Sammy said. “Right now, we are a series-winning team. We play one team over a three- or five-game period, and we know what to do, but I want this team to become a championship-winning team where we can play different opposition in a tournament and be able to come up with the goods every single game.”
As the West Indies prepare for the upcoming T20 series against South Africa, Sammy sees this as an opportunity to start implementing the changes needed to achieve long-term success. While winning the series remains a priority, he is also focused on the bigger picture—preparing the team for future tournaments and improving in key areas.
“I wouldn’t call it revenge, but it’s a great opportunity for us to regroup, refocus,” Sammy said. “It’s the first competitive international game since that quarter-final in the World Cup, and one that we want to start fine-tuning ourselves.”
Optimum goal
He added, “Obviously winning the series is the optimum goal that we have, but just based on the preparation, there are areas we have identified as a coaching or tactical group that we need to improve on in order for us to win tournaments, and we want to start that right in this series.”
Reflecting on their past success against South Africa, Sammy noted that while the 3-0 win in Jamaica earlier this year was a confidence booster, the focus is on moving forward and continuously improving. “It’s about moving forward and continuously putting in performances that allow us to be victorious and fine-tuning some of the areas that we definitely need improving on,” Sammy stated.
As the West Indies take the field in Tarouba, San Fernando, Sammy’s mission is clear: build a team that not only wins series but consistently delivers on the biggest stage.
