This will be the beginning of things to come : Darren Samm

Colombo  :  West Indies skipper Darren Sammy said the World Twenty20 victory over Sri Lanka here Sunday was very special and will be the beginning of things to come.

“This hopefully will be the beginning of things to come. Hopefully this team will go on. For the last two years, we’ve shown the never say die attitude but we haven’t had the results,” said Sammy in the post-match presentation ceremony.

“This moment we’re going to live forever. The team has been through a lot in the last 10 years. The mission was to win the World T20, the belief we left the Caribbean with has pulled us through. Today we were down and out but our never say die attitude came out.”

This was the West Indies’ first world title since they won the World Cup in 1979.

Sammy thanked his supporters before taking a lap of honour around the ground.

“Thank you to everyone who supported us. The tournament is for the fans. The love we felt from the Sri Lankan people is tremendous and we want to thank them for that,” said the 28-year-old.

Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene, who top-scored for the hosts with 33, gave credit to his opponents, stating that a couple of errors on the field while batting and bowling took the momentum away from them.

“I think the first 10 overs were fantastic, they knew they had to go for it. A couple of mistakes on the field and three, four bad overs shifted the momentum. It was tough for us to get into it. The boys tried well. We’re disappointed,” said the 35-year-old cricketer.

“A couple of overs they went after us, against our best bowlers. Marlon (Samuels) batted very well. I backed my No.1 bowler to deliver but Marlon batted very well.”

“While batting, we lost momentum when (Tillakaratne) Dilshan fell. They bowled really well. We just needed to keep the pressure on which we didn’t. We need to sit down, have a good chat, and move on,” said Jayawardene, who reportedly quit as T20 captain of his side.