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"One Step Forward, Two Steps Backward": WI Great Blames Head Coach Sammy For Test Decline

Aakash Saini

West Indies coach Daren Sammy [Source: @mufaddal_vohra/x]West Indies coach Daren Sammy [Source: @mufaddal_vohra/x]

West Indies bundled out for a shambolic 27 in the third Test of the three-match series against Australia in Kingston. Falling to a huge 176-run defeat, and eventually to a 0-3 series drubbing, the latest outcome sparked widespread outrage among the West Indies cricketing fraternity.

Former cricketer Carl Hooper also expressed his deep disappointment over the result, lamenting the team’s relapse as he questioned the coaching tenure of Daren Sammy. Hooper also warned the West Indies cricket team of the upcoming challenge against India, stressing that the road to recovery will be far from easy.

Hooper Wants WI To “Get Ready For India”

Former cricketer Carl Hooper lamented West Indies’ latest defeat to Australia, claiming that years of hard work and steady progress have seemingly gone to waste in the wake of the team’s dramatic collapse. He also alleged the lack of progress the West Indies team has made under the coaching tenure of two-time T20 World Cup winning captain Daren Sammy.

While speaking with the ABC Sport, Sammy said:

“It's been so disappointing. I'm angry, I'm upset, you know, because I think we were building a good thing a few years ago. And then we had wholesale changes. And to see this as the end result is like what we've done for the last two, three years in trying to build something has just sort of gone up in flames today.”

“We were building something under the former head coach, Andre Coley. Then we removed him and brought in Daren Sammy, who was our white-ball coach. He’s now the all-format coach. And now, you sort of take one step forward and then, I think, two steps backward. Where do you go from here?”

Carl Hooper further addressed that the West Indies team needs to prepare for the upcoming Test series against India in a bid to “pick themselves up”. He added:

“We've got India coming up in a couple of months — a three-Test series — it's going to be tough. So, it's not as if you can see some light at the end of the tunnel. We don't have a few easy oppositions; it's going to be tough. So you just have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try to get ready for India.”

Nonetheless, before facing India, West Indies will go up against Australia in a five-match T20I series later this month. The series-opening first T20I will be played on July 20 at the Sabina Park in Kingston.