Samuels: Sky is the limit now

The sky is the limit for the West Indies following their ICC World Twenty20 success, according to their final hero Marlon Samuels.

The Windies' 36-run win looked a highly unlikely outcome for much of the game, but in the end, Samuels' belligerent 78 from 56 balls proved decisive.

Samuels saw a clutch of his fellow top-order ball-strikers fail to register on a slow but fair pitch. He did not panic, however, and pushed his team up to 137 for six - a total which, contrary to expectation, proved far too many for Sri Lanka, who were dismissed for 101 in reply.

It was a turn of events which deflated the vast majority in a partisan 35,000 sell-out crowd.

But it may conversely breathe new life into West Indies cricket for years to come, after a generation of mediocrity since the heydays of the 1970s and 80s.

"We haven't won a major title for years now, so I think this is a great achievement for this wonderful team we have here," said Samuels.

"The entire Caribbean embrace this. It means the world to us.

"We're here to show the world that West Indies cricket is back.

"The sky is the limit now."

Samuels, who returned to international cricket last year after a two-year ban for passing information to a bookmaker, added: "My career has had its ups and downs - a lot of tough times.

"But I'm not someone that will ever give up.

"The person that I am deep down inside is the reason I'm still here playing cricket.

"I have a family that believes in me. So if outsiders don't, that doesn't really matter to me.

"Being under pressure on a cricket field is nothing compared to what I've been through off the field."

Captain Darren Sammy was revelling in the success - one he said was for the people of the Caribbean.

"We can definitely cherish this moment - I will for sure - and we can relive it every day of our lives," said Sammy.

"This is the best moment for me in any cricket.

"This is for the Caribbean people, the West Indies fans all over the world.

"They've been craving success. It's party time now from Jamaica down to Guyana - and we know how to party - so they'll need a lot of bartenders."

Even Sammy must have had his doubts when the Windies crawled to 14 for two in the six-over powerplay, after choosing to bat first.

But he said: "God works in mysterious ways - he performs wonders.

"It is the belief we have in the side. We expected them to give us a fight, and they did, but throughout the last year we've been showing that never-say-die attitude.

"We've not been winning games with it. It's been taking us close, but in this tournament we've won games - and that's every man believing that whoever is out there can do the job.

"Today it was Marlon Samuels, and in the end every run counted - and then the bowling and fielding display was just brilliant.

"I said we needed our A-plus game, and we definitely did.

"The momentum we finished our batting with took us through to the bowling.

"Then Ravi (Rampaul) started off really well with his first ball, and we never looked back from there.

"We saved our best for last. This is the icing on the cake."

This was a poignant moment for both Sammy and Samuels, the former a captain whose place in the side has so often been questioned and the latter capping a wonderful year in a previously chequered career.

Neither was ever going to be weighed down by their critics, though.

"I play for the people. The commentators get paid to speak; I get paid to play cricket," added Sammy.

"Anyone can have an opinion about me ... my shoulders are broad enough, and I wear this crest on my heart.

"I don't play for glory; I play for the Caribbean people."

Schumacher rues missing out on points

Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher narrowly missed out on tenth-place after losing a fierce battle with Daniel Ricciardo towards the end of the Japanese Grand Prix.

We also post reactions from drivers from Mercedes, Caterham, Marussia and HRT.

MERCEDES:
Michael Schumacher: "I have mixed feelings after the race here in Japan, because it's obviously unfortunate to come so close to scoring points and not manage it, after a race which went better than we expected. In the final laps, I had a nice and interesting battle with Ricciardo, but in the end I couldn't get past him because the Toro Rosso was so quick on the straights. That's why we have to say we couldn't have got much more out of it today. Now let's see how things go in Korea."

Nico Rosberg: "I had a good start to the race but unfortunately it ended fairly quickly today. In the first corner Grosjean spun into Webber and that also led to my accident. I began to brake but Senna crashed into me from behind which destroyed my rear tyre and meant that I had to retire. It's a shame as I felt very comfortable with my car on the installation lap, and I was confident that we could score some decent points. I'll now hope for a better weekend in Korea."

CATERHAM:
Heikki Kovalainen: "I had a fantastic start, avoided all the problems in turn one and passed Glock as soon as the safety car came out. I was running really well in 11th until the first set of stops and in that first stint the car felt great. I was keeping the pack behind me and tyre wear on the softs was good. We went onto the hard tyres for the second stint and, again, wear rates were excellent. We were even thinking about doing a one stop race but towards the end of the stint they started to go off so we came in with ten laps left and from there it was all about making sure we got to the flag without any problems."

Vitaly Petrov: "At the start I had to avoid the problems in front but got through that ok and pretty quickly settled into a good rhythm. My first stop was fine but after that we lost KERS and that obviously cost me time. I also had a problem with the radio and couldn't hear the blue flag calls and that ended up with the drive-through penalty. From where I started on the grid and with the KERS issue I think I probably got as much as I could out of the car today. It's been a bit of tough weekend but it's good to see the team working so hard to keep pushing us forwards and next week in Korea we have another chance to keep fighting."

MARUSSIA:
Timo Glock: "I'm very happy to say it was a good race for us today. The start was quite a shock when I saw all the cars flying across the track. Heikki came through it quite well but I was right behind him and I was able to overtake him in the Esses. I was up to P11 but I knew that would be short-lived because we were struggling a bit with traction out of the last corner and obviously they have KERS and we don't. Heikki got past and I continued to lose quite a lot of time in that corner afterwards - three or four tenths each lap into turn 1 and the Esses - which allowed the other guys - who also have KERS - to pass me. In general though we had good pace and were quite consistent. The behaviour of the tyre to the car was very good and we were able to stay out quite long. The first pitstop was very strong - the fourth quickest team of the race - so a great job by the crew as they work so hard on that every day. I had good pace on the prime tyre and was going well, but at last pit stop I was a little long in the box having misjudged the grip, so my mistake and sorry for that. I was then able to close the gap to Heikki so our strategy was spot-on. We were as close as four seconds at one stage but the blue flags opened the gap again. Still, eight seconds away at the end was pretty good! We have to be happy I think. We fought well, the car was a lot of fun to drive and it's great to have a consistent car again. We continue to have better pace in the race, so we will keep working hard on our overall performance and enjoying this very positive final phase of the season."

Charles Pic: "Obviously it is disappointing for me to have to retire as we were coming back strong at that point in the race. It is also the first retirement for a while. The start was difficult as we had to avoid the trouble at the first corner, then on the first stint I was struggling for grip with the Hard tyre. This improved when I switched to the Soft tyre for the second stint. My race was going well and I was behind Timo and ahead of Vitaly and Pedro. Unfortunately I misjudged the pit box on my second stop, going quite long, and lost a lot of time. Shortly afterwards I had to stop due to a problem with the engine. Overall it has been a good weekend and I have enjoyed my first experience of this amazing technical circuit. I look forward to another new circuit for me next weekend and a better result."

HRT:
Pedro de la Rosa: "Today's race was quite good and we could say we've taken a step forward, although we still have plenty to do. The first stint was good but we had a problem in the first pitstop which made me lose quite a lot of time. My times with the hard tyres towards the end were very good and we were right in there. The car was handling well and we got close to Pic and Petrov, which for us, at a track like this, is fantastic."

Narain Karthikeyan: "I had a good start and passed Pic on the first lap. The car was working well, it had good pace, and after the first pitstop I was ahead of Pedro and completing a good race. However, we suffered a problem with the car later and, coming in for a second tyre change, the team decided that, as a precautionary measure, it was best to stop. Now it's time to think about Korea and work to take another step forward."