Darren Sammy retires

[Dunny]

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/201...ramdin-captain

[Islandman]

....from Test cricket.

Smart move. He will have a few good years to cash in fully on his T20 reputation.

[Stonigut]

Great news, make way for someone who can really rouse the troops to perform consistently.

[Islandman]

For Test cricket, no such person exists. We have been blaming the captain for WI test cricket woes for 20 years now. The problem is elsewhere.

We simply do not have a team capable of winning with any regularity in Test cricket. We may never have one again. Thankfully T20 is the future of cricket and we are competitive there.

Sammy is no Test cricketer but has proven himself to be an outstanding player and a more than decent captain in the shorter forms of the game.

[Me]

Great service by Sammy. Focus on the formats you are better suited to. When people were declining the captaincy, you step up.

[Gamma]

Why did he resign though?

[Me]

Must be to make money in these last days, since it seem like the overseas leagues now willing to pay him for his talent. Strike while it is hot as the 30s reach.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport...Sammy_16643346

Darren Sammy says his decision to quit Test cricket came after he realised he was no longer part of the future plans of the West Indies team, in the game's longer version.

The Windward Islands all-rounder, who was axed as captain last Friday after nearly four years in charge, said he "had no choice" but to retire after speaking to West Indies selectors and hearing the opinions of the team and its management.

"It was something I thought about after I discussed with the selectors. After listening to the management and teams' views about the way they needed to move to the next level in Test cricket, I understood that my role wasn't needed as captain or player. This was the way forward," Sammy said here.

[Islandman]

He should have a good 3-4 years of T20 in him playing for the big money. Can put together a nice little retirement nest egg for himself during that time.

If he wasn't captain he was always going to struggle to make the Test team, so why even bother when you could be playing elsewhere.

Seems like a win-win to me.

[Gamma]

win win yes. make the team as captain (knows he could not make it otherwise)....get some t20 exposure and then run wid di money....sounds like a plan. where do i sign up?

[Me]

Now I hope they can pick some specialist batsmen and bowlers who can actually outperform the captain that shouldn't be in the team on merit.

Blackwood look like him providing hope on the batting side.

[Stonigut]

Come on Islandman, are you kidding, some of the collapses we have seen in the past ten years or so are clearly the result of lack of leadership, just pride alone can get you to defend your wicket and show some degree of resolve. Leadership is everything, poor leader poor results, only results this guy got was a flash in the pan result in t20 which requires the least amount of concentration of all the forms of cricket. When we get some people in there with a little pride and resolve even with less talent you will see better results.

[Gamma]

For real .... In looking for a 'never say die' captain, they passed up on a winner!

[Islandman]

Better results, maybe. A decent Test team, very unlikely. We no longer produce cricketers in the Caribbean suited for Test cricket. In fact we never really did, but we had County Cricket and other such outlets available to develop talent for us.

T20 is the future of professional cricket. For that we have IPL, Big Bash and all the others that are willing and able to make world class T20 players out of our young cricketers, plus a lot more international games and money than Test cricket offers. For test cricket we have nothing and are yet to develop any domestic system that allows us to do it for ourselves. But unoo think is the captain fault.

Unoo can gwan wait for these imaginary cricketers with enough pride to win at the test level. I give the new skipper a year before we start cuss him like we did Richardson, Lara, Hooper, Chanderpaul and Sammy.

[Islandman]

As soon as I find out I will let you know!

[Islandman]

Yes some players with talent and real pride, LOL.

This is going to be very interesting.