St Lucians protest Sammy’s sacking

Darren Sammy, who was recently sacked as West Indies Twenty20 captain, on Tuesday moved to appeal to protesters outside the stadium in St Lucia that was named in his honour, while acknowledging their support.

A group of placard bearing protesters gathered outside the facility chanting slogans including “We want Sammy!” One protester told the Midday News Edition of Radio Caribbean International (RCI), that the locals were joined by some Indian cricket fans.

Veteran cricket commentator, Joseph ‘Reds’ Perreira, told RCI he understood that Sammy spoke politely to the protestors urging them to move on and watch the cricket match.

Ever since Sammy’s axing as captain and his removal from the team, several persons have taken to the online social media platform – Facebook, to express their disgust and call for a boycott of the third test against India that started on Tuesday.

Like the protesters outside the Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, the Facebook users asserted that Sammy had been victimised. The cricketer himself had said that he was disappointed but not surprised by the decision to sack him as the captain of the West Indies T20 team.

Sammy led the West Indies to T20 victory in Sri Lanka four years ago and again earlier this year in India.

But there were obvious signs of the strains between him and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) when he used his presentation speech to attack his employers over a lack of support.