Sammy, Kings Thank Saint Lucia

The Saint Lucia Kings are back in the ascendancy, bouncing back from consecutive home losses to post two straight wins at the Daren Sammy Cricket Grounds.

With three preliminary games remaining, the Kings are second only to the Barbados Royals in the points standings. 

Kings head coach Daren Sammy was full of praise for the Saint Lucian public, who supported all four home games in massive numbers. 

“The beauty about playing home, you play with 12 people, 11 on the park and then one more in the stands,” he shared. “And that’s how it felt throughout all the games. As disappointing as we were in the first two games but we kept on getting better.”

Sammy pointed out that after winning their first two games away from home, the team was well set in advance of the home stand, which ended on Sunday.

But he also told St Lucia Times that home cooking can sometimes be too much of a good thing.

“You want to do well at home. And the fact that we started the competition with two away wins, it feels like we had four victories at home, cause that’s what you want to do. 

“However, number two on the tables – I am happy that we’re going away,” he admitted.

“In Saint Lucia, as sweet as it is, and as great as the fans come out, it’s more distraction here for my players. But the Kings have always been a team that travelled better, so we’re looking forward to Guyana and hopefully out of those last three games, two out of two will will seal us a good position.”

The Kings will play Barbados twice next weekend in Guyana before concluding their preliminary campaign against the Trinbago Knight Riders.

Their success in the upcoming fixtures will determine their playoff position. Sammy expressed his confidence ahead of that trip.

“We have a lot to work on, you know. Quentin de Cock, I think he’s scored 70 per cent of Barbados runs throughout the season,” mused Sammy. 

“We have a couple days at home still, before we head off to Guyana, so I trust in the planning team – Avinesh, the analyst, Floyd, myself. We’ll come up with the plans and see the venue, how best we could execute against them, and present to the players. Hopefully they go out and perform,” he stated.