It has been a tumultuous past few months for the West Indies off the pitch, but on it, they have managed to remain focussed. Completing a treble of trophies in the just over three months of 2016 speaks volumes about the commitment of the players, despite the lack of support from the board.
The team had difficulty even getting their jerseys for the tournament and had little support from their own cricket board, from whom the team hadn't heard anything.
“The country’s cricket is not in right hands. We have not got a telephone call from any of the WICB officials or directors. That’s not a good thing. We know that they did not want or believe that we could win this tournament. It was basically us against them. Even the BCCI does more for us.”Dwayne Bravo, West Indies
“If we look at the calendar, we don’t have any more T20 matches this year. We are not picked for the ODIs. There’s a series that’s going to happen with South Africa but we will be playing in England (Natwest Blast) whereas we should have been playing for the West Indies. Look at the love we get over here. Even the BCCI does more for us than our board.”Dwayne Bravo, West Indies
Very similar emotions were conveyed by the captain Darren Sammy in the post match presentation ceremony. Several members of the team have long standing disputes over pay cuts from their cricket board.
Four days before the start of T20 WC only three players had signed the contract to play for West Indies. There was a lot of uncertainty on whether West Indies would play at the World T20 at all. But eventually they did play, even going on to win the tournament in style.
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