Gibson – No rain and WI would have won

Port of Spain, Trinidad – West Indies senior coach Otis Gibson is disappointed his team was kicked out at the semi-final stage of ICC World T20 tournament but looking forward to future tournaments.

The West Indies’ campaign to retain their title came to a wet end after they lost their rain-affected semi-final against Sri Lanka on the Duckworth/Lewis system by 27 runs in Bangladesh on Thursday.

“I think the coming together of men for one cause, that is the biggest thing,” Gibson said yesterday. “It’s not always easy to get us together for one cause. In 2012 we did it, and again here we did it, but the guys getting together, putting their heads together, guys coming up with solid plans, backing each other and supporting each other, that was absolutely outstanding.”

The coach added: “That is something I said to them last night, if we can harness that and continue to do that not just for tournaments but consistently, then that is where our true potential as a team will be measured.”

Gibson said the journey from their initial T20s against Ireland all the way through to the ICC T20 World Cup   showed steady improvement.

“Am really proud of the way the guys committed themselves to the cause, the way they travelled the journey and the way they went about the business. I have no doubt that had the rain not come last night we would have gone on to win that game, such was the confidence within the group,” Gibson said.

Gibson said a lot had been said about how slowly the team started but he had to credit the way the Sri Lankans performed.

“So I am disappointed obviously to finish the way it did, but ultimately very pleased with the way we went about our business in the tournament. Retaining the title was never going to be easy. It was gonna take a huge effort and everybody was up for that. It is just unfortunate to finish the way it did,” Gibson said

He said he was further pleased by the overall team effort, with performances coming from right throughout the team, including especially from Samuel Badree, Sunil Narine, Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith and Captain Darren Sammy.

“The team grew with every win and I had no doubt that we were going to go on to have another grand stand finish but it wasn’t to be,” Gibson stated.