He was the first international cricketer from St Lucia, and made his Test debut by capturing seven second-innings wickets at Old Trafford. His career did not really proceed along those glorious initial heights. But Sammy has accomplished quite a bit for someone who struggled for long to pin his place in the side and was widely regarded as a bits and pieces player With the ball he picked up useful wickets, with multiple five-fors in Tests. With the bat he hit a Test century at Trent Bridge and notched up the fastest fifty by a West Indian batsman in One-Day Internationals. Following Chris Gayle’s problems with a central contract Sammy was named captain of the West Indian side — quite an achievement for both the cricketer and St Lucia. He led in all formats till he was replaced as Test captain by Dinesh Ramdin in May 2014. While Test results of his team remained poor Sammy did lead his side to a win against Pakistan at Providence claiming five second innings wickets. The crowning glory was however in 2012 when West Indies won the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka, their first world title since 1979.Whatever Sammy lacks in ability he makes up with keen cricketing sense. He is steady with his medium pace, more than handy with the bat and misses almost nothing in the slips. Respect for his leadership qualities extends beyond the Caribbean, and prompted Sunrisers Hyderabad to appoint him as captain.
