World T20 final today at Eden Gardens:

Two confident captains - one trophy, the battle is on

by Sàadi Thawfeeq Reporting from Kolkata

KOLKATA: After nearly three weeks of matches of the ICC World T20 Super 10, we have two former winners of the title battling it out for the most prestigious trophy in the shortest format of the game when 2010 winners England take on 2012 champions West Indies at one of cricket’s famous venues Eden Gardens here on Sunday.

At the pre-match press conference both captains Eoin Morgan of England and Darren Sammy of West Indies expressed confidence about their team’s chances of winning the final.Sammy fired the first salvo at England when he said, “the first thing is you have to stop us from hitting boundaries that has been difficult for oppositions once we get in that swing. One of the senior players made a comment in one of our team meetings, I think it was DJ Bravo, “the only thing that could beat is ourselves” and we believe that. We could only defeat ourselves. Once we do what could do well nobody can defeat us and that is the mentality we take forward against England.”

Speaking further about the power hitting the West Indies possess,Sammy said, “Since the inception of T20 you’ve seen West Indies is a boundary-hitting team so that’s no surprise for me. We know the power we have in the dressing room. Simmons, Russell and Charles displayed that type of batting - boundary hitting - against India but it’s another match, one last step for us in the tournament. We’ll focus on England but more or less focus onus and we believe if we do what West Indies can do best, we’ll always be destructive in this format.” For West Indies to come all this far it has not been an easy road. To begin with there was a great deal of uncertainty whether they would be able to put a team forward for the tournament when the players and the West Indies Cricket Board met head-on in a clash over payments.

“It’s been a tough journey. A lot happened before the tournament, and I believe that everything always happens for a reason,” said Sammy. “The pre-tournament shenanigans brought us really closer together as a team. I don’t know if you’ve heard the coach says it, the players have said it - it feels like it’s us against everybody else. We came here after winning the tournament in 2012, a hailstorm knocked us out in Bangladesh, the year before we were in the semi-finals and I think in 2009. “It’s a format we’ve been consistent in but every year nobody gives us a chance. All these things brought this team together.

The fact that a few of us are getting old now, we are aware that it could be the last for a few key players and that brought us closer; we formed our own little circle. We just wanted to take six steps. It’s a six-step process to the Cup and we’ve taken five steps. We took a big one against India, we had a bit of a skid on the way which kind of knocked us off but we got up. “We’re left with one step and we as a group we believe in each other, we enjoy each other’s success and we think about ourselves lifting up that cup tomorrow. I could almost foresee what’s going to happen afterwards, but we have a cricket game to play and England is a very good side..Since we beat them, they’ve played really good cricket to reach the final,” he said.

For England, Morgan said winning the final meant a huge amount considering the strides the team has made in the past 12 months in white ball cricket. “This is great reward for the mindset and the great work we have put in. There’s a lot of belief in the side that we can put up a match winning performance,” said Morgan confidently.

“We know it’s going to be a huge game. Not a normal game. Even the semi-final we played there’s lot of hype around. Lots of expectations to play in a final. I want everyone to raise their game and embrace it. It’s important to be in a good frame of mind and slow things down when needed and more importantly to execute our skills.”

Since their disappointing campaign in the Cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand a year ago, England have made immense strides in one-day cricket.“It’s quite a stark difference. I would have never imagined that the turn around having such an immediate impact,” said Morgan.

“Again,I have always said that the talent we have in the dressing room and the hard work we put in has been great. The mindset of players and the mindset of support staff have rubbed in to everybody. Tomorrow there’s an opportunity for us. It’s very exciting. I am very proud.”