Cricket ground in St Lucia named after West Indies captain Darren Sammy following World T20 title

ST JOHN'S, Antigua and Barbuda // Darren Sammy's success in captaining the West Indies to the World Twenty20 title has been recognised by his native St Lucia after it was announced that the island's main cricket ground would be renamed in his honour.

The Beausejour Cricket Ground will now be known as the Darren Sammy National Cricket Ground, with one of the stands to be named in honour of fellow St Lucian and Twenty20 winner Johnson Charles.

According to the West Indies Cricket Board, the announcement was made by the prime minister of St Lucia, Kenny Anthony, at a welcome reception on the island on Tuesday.

“The West Indies Cricket Board would like to congratulate West Indies captain Darren Sammy and opener Johnson Charles for the honour their home country St Lucia has bestowed on them,” the WICB added in a statement, issued from their St John’s, Antigua, headquarters.

[ Before the late drama, leg-spinner Samuel Badree sets West Indies up for World T20 victory ]

Sunday's victory over England, in a thrilling Kolkata final where Carlos Brathwaite hit four successive sixes in the last over, meant the West Indies became the first team to win the World Twenty20 title twice.

Sammy, 32, was also the West Indies’ captain when they beat then hosts Sri Lanka in the 2012 final in Colombo.

But immediately after the team’s latest triumph at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens ground, the all-rounder slammed the WICB for a “disappointing” lack of support, saying the team felt “disrespected” by their own officials.

Sammy’s comments came on the back of a bitter pay dispute that has dogged West Indies cricket for several years.

Dave Cameron, the WICB president, responded by calling Sammy’s remarks “inappropriate”.

However, Cameron added the board would meet players after the end of the Indian Premier League (IPL) next month to persuade them to play for the West Indies, rather than opt for lucrative franchise Twenty20 leagues.

“We want to see how we can find common ground in ensuring that the best players in the region are available for selection for West Indies teams,” Cameron said.

A pay dispute two years ago led to the team flying home in the middle of a tour of India and the players only reluctantly agreed to sign contracts for the World Twenty20 a few weeks before the tournament began.

Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE

Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport

WE NO LONGER PREFER MOUNTAINS

Director: Inas Halabi

Starring: Nijmeh Hamdan, Kamal Kayouf, Sheikh Najib Alou

Rating: 4/5

Company Profile

Name: Direct Debit System
Started: Sept 2017
Based: UAE with a subsidiary in the UK
Industry: FinTech
Funding: Undisclosed
Investors: Elaine Jones
Number of employees: 8

Zakat definitions

Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.

Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.

Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.

Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.

The specs

Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 620hp from 5,750-7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm from 3,000-5,750rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh1.05 million ($286,000)

Our legal consultant

Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.