Darren Sammy

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Darren Sammy : biography

20 December 1983 –

The 2011/12 season saw Sammy improve as a batsman: in the series against India and Australia Sammy scored over 100 runs, which he had not done previously in a Test series. This trend continued when the West Indies toured England in May 2012. Sammy began the series with scores of 17 and 37 in the first Test at Lord’s, during which he passed 3,000 runs in first-class cricket. In the following Test, in his 26th Test, Sammy registered his maiden Test century. It was just the seventh time a number eight batsman had scored a century for the West Indies. Sammy partnered Marlon Samuels in a 204-run stand, the second-highest for the West Indies’ seventh wicket. The West Indies lost the Test and drew the next one to lose the series 2–0; Sammy finished with 201 runs from five innings and was his team’s third highest run-scorer in the series while his six wickets cost 48.50 runs each.• Commenting on Sammy’s performance in the series, former West Indies captain Viv Richards said "All of a sudden there was this new-found confidence. You need to have a leader who can come out to the middle and make some sort of contribution. He has done enough and should not feel he has one foot in and one foot out as far as the leadership in concerned. He has done his bit to provide a winning environment."

New Zealand toured the West Indies between June and August 2012. The fixtures included two Tests, five ODIs, and two T20Is, and the West Indies won every match apart from the third ODI. Sammy guided the team to their first Test series victory since 2009 against a Test side other than minnows Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. He carried on his good form with the bat, scoring a half-century in the first Test.

Sammy led the West Indies in the 2012 World Twenty20 hosted by Sri Lanka. For the first time in a long time, the West Indies were considered realistic contenders for the title, a measure of how the team has matured under the auspices of Sammy. However, it was as an individual player that he came under scrutiny in the tournament. In the journey from group stages to the final, Sammy contributed 27 runs with the bat from four visits to the crease and overall bowling figures of 2/125, and drew a lot of criticism as many people felt he was keeping better players out of the side. But in the final, when it mattered most, Sammy scored 26 not out from 15 balls and took two key wickets (almost matching his batting and bowling tally for the rest of the tournament) to help his team overcome a slow start and defeat Sri Lanka.