“I would say I’m proud of what he’s done,” Sammy said. “Taking a chance on a kid who’s never played [even] a game, in a region where you’re not sure how fast a player will develop. And we didn’t pick Lawes just out of our heart. The processes that we followed in fast-tracking his development, a lot of people don’t see that.
“I heard a lot of noise when he was selected, but we, and guys like Nikita Miller, who put in the work, and Lawes himself, credit must go to him. But the processes we followed to get him to where we believed he was ready to play international cricket, we were quite happy with it. And we have a couple of [other] youngsters who we put in through that process as well.
“And Lawes, after the series, I said, you know, I’m really proud of him to come out [with] eight wickets, looking like he belongs in the game and especially [with] us trying to develop players. Really proud of what he’s done in his debut series.”
“When you see someone like Hetty play like that and you see Sherfane play like that, you tend to ask yourself, why is it not more consistent?” Sammy said. “For me, it’s always a constant battle. When are they going to be consistent? When do we stop giving opportunities? But you look at the talent that’s there, it is so hard [for them] to not be part of the cricket. I was quite pleased.
“Throughout the series, Sherfane struggled a little bit, but he has been batting well in the nets. And Hetty, the way he played with such maturity. I’m pretty sure not only me, but the entire region and the West Indies fans – innings like that, you want to see more consistently. We know the Shai Hopes do that, but to see how Hetty played today was really pleasing.”
“I spoke to Roston earlier today,” Sammy said. “He came to do his workout. Still a little bit puffy. but Roston is a fighter. I know he’s not going to want to miss any Test cricket. I’m pretty sure Dr. Byam [team physio Denis Byam] has a way of keeping guys on the park, so I’m pretty sure Roston will be ready for the first Test.”
