He is a stock bowler like Colleymore

Darren Sammy celebrates another wicket - (Brooks La Touche Photography)

MONDAY 25 MAY – KINGSTON, Jamaica – All-rounder Darren Sammy, who has

just completed his fourth Test match, says that he understands his role in the

team and sees himself as the stock bowler of the West Indies bowling line.

This is similar to that of seam bowler Corey Collymore, who is now playing county

cricket in England for Sussex as a Kolpak player.

"I had to do a lot of bowling (in the First Digicel test) but I see myself as the

workhorse in this bowling unit," Sammy revealed exclusively to

DigicelCricket.com, after the home team went down to Australia by 95 runs, on

the final day of the opening Digicel Test match at Sabina Park.

Darren Sammy drives Brett Lee

"I see myself as the one who supposed to bowl the bulk of the overs, while they

interchange the faster bowlers. My role in the team is similar to Corey Collymore.

He used to do a very good job for us, bowling maidens and applying pressure

whether wickets fall at his end or the other end, and I see my role similar to his,"

Sammy said shortly after the match ended.

The 30-year-old Collymore played the last of his 30 Tests for the West Indies in

June 2007, also appearing in 84 One Day Internationals for the West Indies. The

miserly right arm seam bowler took 93 and 83 international wickets respectively,

in the two forms of the game.

While accepting that he is not a genuine quick bowler, Sammy, the 24-year-old

Saint Lucian right-arm medium fast bowler, also likened himself to Stuart Clark

who won the Digicel Man-of-the-Match prize, for taking eight wickets in the match

for Australia.

Darren Sammy celebrates getting Brad Haddin out - (Brooks La Touche Photography)

"I am not a tearaway fast bowler but if I could keep things tight; sort of like what

Stuart Clark is doing for Australia, I would be happy," said Sammy who is the first

Saint Lucian to play for the West Indies.

He said that missing the services of key players in captain and opening batsman

Chris Gayle and lead strike bowler Jerome Taylor, were huge blows to the home

team going into the opening clash of the Digicel Test Series.

"Chris and Jerome are key members of our team and we missed them on the

field but I must commend the other guys, even though we were missing two key

players we still showed fight and spirit and determination," Sammy reasoned.

He also said that while he is not unhappy with his performance in the match, he

still thinks there are areas where he needs to constantly improve. In the first

innings, Sammy was especially outstanding, taking two wickets for 78 runs from

29 overs. No bowler bowled more overs in the innings.

"This Test match could have been better for me. I thought I gave a couple of

loose deliveries when bowling, and in the first innings, I didn't contribute at a

crucial time (when he failed to score) when I was batting with Chanderpaul,"

highlighted Sammy, who took seven for 66 against England on his Test debut at

Old Trafford in 2007.

In the second innings when he made 35, and put on 67 for the seventh wicket

with top scorer Denesh Ramdin (36). Sammy said they were looking to occupy

the crease for as long as possible.

"The plan was to bat as long as we could, and me and Denesh believed that we

could have gotten to the total so we were just playing each ball on its merit and

when we get the bad balls look to cash in but it was unfortunate that Denesh

got run out and I myself got out in the end," Sammy revealed.

"Overall it was a good Test match, we showed fight, we showed spirit, over the

last two series we've showed improvement every game. The public is asking for

us to show fight, we won't start winning right away, but as long as we keep

improving and show that we're competing against the top teams in the world

that augurs well for the future of West Indies cricket," Sammy reasoned.

"We gave the Australians a fight right down to the wire. We got ourselves into a

winning position, but the guys think that this Test match has more positives than

negatives," Sammy said.

"We bowled out Australia twice in a match which is a plus for us, the continued

good batting of Chanderpaul and a whole total team effort," Sammy pointed out

as some of the areas that the team was pleased about. (Courtesy-:

DigicelCricket.com)