 Come to the Sports Max zone we start today's show by welcoming on set Christopher Gustave, marketing manager of long time sponsors of the Sports Max zone, the St. Lucia Tourism Authority. He is accompanied by two time T20 World Cup winner and current West Indies white ball head coach Darren Sammy. Gentlemen, welcome to the Sports Max zone. Chris, let's start with you. What brings you to Jamaica this time of the year? Well it's really a pleasure to inform the general public that for the first time in a long time we actually have the ability to fly direct or almost with a short stop from Jamaica to St. Lucia via inter-Caribbean. When did this start? It started sometime last month so we had to promote it to make sure that the general public is aware of the flight. It's up to three times a week you could escape to paradise and the way the flight is designed, the way the flight is designed you could literally spend every weekend if you wanted in beautiful St. Lucia. Yeah and you have a jazz festival coming up, don't you? So that I think is well-timed. Yeah definitely. St. Lucia Jazz Festival is probably the leading music and arts festival in the entire Caribbean and we have a lineup that's second to none. I mean the amount of excitement we see in around this festival it's really bringing St. Lucia up to a different level and we have a lineup, a lot of Jamaicans actually on the cast. Shensia, right? Not Shensia but... Perisaman. Perisaman. Perisaman. Rumin. Rumin. Vogu. But... Marshall Montana from TNT will be there. Definitely. Marshall Montana. An ear supply who is everybody's favorite. Yeah so and the thing about the ear supply show it's on the 13th Mother's Day. Mother's Day. So I'm encouraging all people listening, book a flight to St. Lucia, bring your mom and see not only ear supply on Mother's Day but baby face as well. So you're talking about a lineup that's really second to none. Yeah well to be very honest St. Lucia has always been top class when it comes to the quality of artists coming to your jazz festival so this isn't a chain from what's the norm. Correct. And those who go into the jazz we actually have two nights of pure jazz. On the 7th of May we have multiple Grammy Award winner John Patatouche and on the 9th of May that's the first day we have Ladies in Jazz Concert featuring the sensational the free time Grammy Award winner. Every time she sings she wins a Grammy. She's a young sensation Samara Joy. You really need to see her in person to really marvel at the magnificence of Samara. So we have also alongside her we have Vened Bigford so it's a full lineup you know. Every taste of music it's available at the St. Lucia Jazz Festival. On the Wednesday that's the 8th we have something called Kingdom Night and it's a praise and worship celebration like no other. How long is it the entire festival? It starts on the 30th and it ends on the 12th of May. So it's almost every day for that entire period so you're talking about events you're talking about shows but the gospel night it's amazing. We have the headliner Donimo Kirkland playing alongside Jamaican Carlin Davis for example. So the genres there's so many so any type of music you into you could find at the St. Lucia Jazz Festival. But what I want to also ensure that is people understand that you're not only coming for the jazz you're coming for all the you know the unique attractions that we have in St. Lucia. So we're talking about for example the driving volcano we're talking about grozily Friday night. The Pitons. The Pitons. So Lance I don't know if you know but Chris is what I would have told you this story before Chris is one of the persons from St. Lucia when I was not on the Sports Max zone so my work I was working in Trinidad at a small station which you know and he found me on social and of course gave me the experience wait give me the experience to come to St. Lucia because of the St. Lucia Tourism Board. So he's somebody of course that I'm so grateful for one and two. I had the experience of all these things he's describing I got to experience it because of him. Yeah. And Darren you were about to interrupt her. I just wanted to hear what you wanted to say to interview me on that trip as well. It was the World Cup right and let me give you a funny story did Giselle was his sponsor did Giselle that owns us and said I couldn't interview him but it's funny because it came full circle I'm here now. Yes. Yeah but just to talk about the jazz as well you know my mom Miss Clara devoted Christian you see the last year Gospel night when Miss Clara came back about four in the morning so you know so I'm telling you it's like Chris said there's something in it for everybody and you know a chance to showcase St. Lucia you know and just enjoy the ambience of the place the people makes it so much easier to enjoy as well. You know Darren when you're going to arrive here with Chris I was I wasn't sure what your role would be because I'm seeing you now I've seen I've seen you in about four years and you look fit and strong and still competitive I was wondering if the Kingston the senior cup cricket semifinals are going on in Jamaica was wondering if one of the Jamaican teams was trying to sign you up to play some cricket. You know that's funny enough. I don't know the last time I held a cricket but I'm now into I'm just playing golf all the time. I wish I played it was I was still active because it stimulates the mind you know and it keeps you sharpened and but look I try to to keep myself up to date if I'm pushing a fitness type of culture no better than to lead it myself and you could see even in our staff now you know you have Floyd you have Ray and Griffith you have myself Jim Franklin all these guys are pushing the guys in focusing on the fitness as well so it's it's been going good I'm satisfied. Just a side question here I want to ask you how do you feel when you enter the Darren Sammy Cricket Stadium because I know that a lot of times we honor our heroes after they're gone yeah and I know there's the Viv Richards and Brian Lauro Stadium and so on so they are alive but you are here with us now how do you feel when you enter this massive beautiful stadium the Darren Sammy Cricket Stadium in St. Lucia. You can get some goosebumps but it is something I always have to remind myself my kids you know when I drive around take my daughter to tennis it's right next door and they keep it's an inspiration because my my last one Xavier he's really into cricket he keeps telling me daddy I'm gonna sell out this stadium so he's six years old and he's obsessed with cricket. Does he bat or bowl or bowl? He's a lefty and now he's trying to bowl because I tell him he has to be an all wrong that when he gets out he doesn't want to do anything but man I'm telling you it's a blessing it's testimony to see how how much St. Lucia has appreciated my contribution to the sport to the game to the people and to actually I played international cricket you know normally you said it's after but to actually play international cricket in the stadium name after you that's the real. Yeah and you know it brings me to my question about you know wearing the hat as head coach yeah because there's like no stopping you you won the World Cup twice then people fell okay you're on the team right as the leader and then you know you felt as we felt as if okay you were coaching for the CPL nobody saw this coming and then you got it. Funny story is I never saw myself coaching I never saw myself venturing to coaching I've been here on discussing being a pundit on the game and you know do some commentary but coaching was never the next thing I was gonna venture it was actually Mohammed Akram from Pakistan when I my affiliation with Peshawar Zalmi and he said you know what because of your leadership I'm not stopping coaching unless I think you're ready to coach and in 2020 he said I think you're ready I was player coach for Peshawar it took a little while for me to remove my playing because I still had the desire to play but now I actually don't miss playing I enjoy sitting down with Avinash and having a talk with Rob man discussing strategy and then seeing the guys going out and executed it that's where I get my high from you know and the data available to us now you know had I used that as in my captaincy was playing I think I'll be much better captain but I've enjoyed the role and it's grown on me and yeah I just want to thank God for for the way the transition has has happened you know not often you see that but Darren you know one of the things I always say on this show is when a person who has a good career and leaves the sport in a very respectful manner becomes a coach it's a bit worrying because and being a West Indies coach is even a bit scary right I feel like you lose all the stripes that you left as a player it can be removed very quickly when you become a coach because they usually blame the coach first yeah well you see the beauty about it I'm not you I'm so used to be being blamed you know for a lot of things you know the pressure that came from my my tenure as captain actually in hindsight it actually prepared me now for for this role so the pressures that come with it enable I've been through it almost throughout my career so now one thing I've understood is the communication and and the purpose I once I've understood the role what the mission of cricket West Indies is what the chairman of selectors looking for and my vision for for the team on how to take it forward now we put the processes in place and I just try to follow that block out the noise and go about doing my job Chris Darren is a tourism product that St. Lucia tourism authority must embrace Darren Sammy as a as a tourism product of the country which is soaring at the moment in its sports platform with Julian Alfred winning world title at 60 meters indoors how does St. Lucia's tourism authority feel about the current sporting landscape in in St. Lucia and the vision for it for it flourishing because with someone like Darren Sammy setting the pace and then others following the sky appears to be the limit and I totally agree and I mean just having Darren here with me is proof yes of how serious that we take sports tourism and if and the role that our sports people play in marketing St. Lucia I mean we just did an interview and Darren did a remarkable job talking about our jazz festival but not only our jazz festival but the coming ICC woke up and our carnival so I mean he's brilliant and the thing about Darren that we love the most is not only his leadership but his authenticity is real people see him understand him and can relate to him you know and just from being around him on the strip of so many people approach them and appreciate what he does so and he I mean literally he's a shining light I believe you because I remember seeing a social media post a couple of months ago I'm not sure if he was in Grenada or where he was chopping a coconut on the side and telling the coconut vendor that he can do this because he's from St. Lucia and it was just so Caribbean. Yeah it's look again I give kudos to Ms. Clara at home the way you know growing up in the countryside you know we didn't have the traditional toys so we had to you know fend for ourselves climb coconut trees mango trees guava trees and you know you never know what happens in the future but all these are bringing prepares you you know for the different challenges you find in life and I'm a proud St. Lucia you know ever since 2004 when I made the West in this team you know St. Lucia, Darren sent me from St. Lucia you know the the marketing that comes with it and you know I must give the tourism authority you know I'm using me as a as a way to even further develop not develop but promote the country you know and Jamaica does it quite well you know I I mean you ask people about you St. Bolt you know you speak about SAFA Chris Gale you know I'm now the regular girls I think regular boys they did you know spots is one avenue where most people could relate it's inspirational you know fortunately for Jamaica they got the music they got the food they got the sports and to put that together and market Jamaica is something a page like St. Lucia could take and I mean they started it now you know Janelle you know myself on Spencer was at the helm but now to see Alfred the way she's she's progressed she's gonna be our biggest sporting star to to come from St. Lucia she keeps track and we we now could sit and not only support Jamaica when the Olympics come okay St. Lucia could actually get a medal so that that proof and it also gives young people a chance to dream like wow Darren did that LeVon did that look Alfred is doing it so it it uplifts the the the youth and hopefully you know we could pick it back on that success because you got to hit the iron wise it's hot yeah T20 World Cup cricket has St. Lucia as one of its venues yes how important is it Darren for the West Indies to win the T20 World Cup and how confident are you that they can it's very important like not only for for for West Indies but I think all the countries coming they know the importance of winning the World Cup the fortunate thing for us for a long time we were the only team that's won it twice I think England did that now we get a chance to put some daylight between us and I must say I have a I'm very confident in what I've seen like just looking at this guy's play T20 cricket over the last year 2023 we did not lose a series Roveman Powell came in as as a new captain and the way his leadership very strong you know and he knows what he wants and we communicate well and to see the way the guys go out and perform I told them I know I've seen this thing before especially from a batting point of view and I think this batting lineup we have now it's even better than than the 2012 and 2016 teams because when you you you see Nicolas Perron you see Shelfane Rutherford you know Hetmai all these guys are in the prime you know I mean Hetmai has not performed for a while but you know but it goes deeper the batting goes deeper goes deeper like when you have Russell starting at eight and nine and all these things we have so much depth in that obviously the bowling you know you want to to say oh can I where can I get a badger where can I get in the right you know but these are guys you cannot replace but you have an Achilusin you have a Moti you have a Zari Joseph you know you have a Shoma Joseph who did amazing things in in when will he get an opportunity for white ball cricket because I don't see him getting picked in the team if he doesn't show him yes yes so but that doesn't mean he's not part of the selection group you know but ideally T20 is a game where you are challenged as a bowler every single ball and it's so different from test cricket he has the skills what he's shown he has the skills he has the the control and he has the heart and these are things that could take you so far in any format of the game but I would love to see because we've given guys and we've had a process to to to getting us to June you know the the guys we've exposed over the last year and it's only fair that you know if somebody brilliant comes along you know there's always this X factor that come along but I mean we trust in the processes myself Robman Powell you know Chairman Desmond Haynes that we've we've put out and people tend to watch okay our bowling but if you look at just overall T20 bowling in the world bowlers have struggled Australia became the first team to have 200 scored four consecutive times against against them yes you know and their bowling is highly expected and they're the top they're in the top three teams in the world so the batsmen are playing on better pitches which mean the margin for error for the bowlers is very slim so it's a it's a you watch the IPL now 270 267 on pitches so it's a general concern for the bowling so that's why because of the X factor we have with the batting group it creates cushion for us we know what we have to do and again it's my word throughout my cricket career has been execution you know we execute well with the confidence that we have on the experience in this team I'm not I'm not worried yeah I'm also looking at the team on paper and saying you know the names look good oh you know my team the names that can be selected but talking about that you have to tell us so the next two names are very very soon soon yeah but look it is not often you find you know a selector selection group in West Indies you know the headache is which player we're gonna pick because of performance not because of the lack there of you know and this T20 team has they've created that I mean I saw these guys landed in Australia straight from some coming from Abu Dhabi T10 or the the IL T20 and like learn straight to work you know like they have this confidence in them and I could see just they walk with their heads up you know and I mean some of them you know we we speak I had an update over with them especially guys in the IPL keeping sure that the workload is managed and and what is required is being done and yeah they were like coach I'm putting in the work you know because it's only 15 they have some disappointment it's only 15 that could be selected but it's from a good bunch of guys yeah do you feel pressure that the T20 World Cup is in the Caribbean and you know or do you feel it's an advantage because then you have the support of all your people well I think the conditions I mean when you come at home you should have some advantage knowing the conditions but you see with all the data around you know and the caliber of players you know you adjust quite well what I would say is looking at the games we've played here I mean my guys have handled the pressure quite well you know going up to nail against England and India and then you know probably relaxing a little bit and then winning it in the the most important thing like I told them is that game five both times against England and India we were able to win it at home and again if you look at tournament cricket you know you will have to win those those crucial games and they're building some good energy and camaraderie among the team that which it could be a success and I believe that we could do it well Darren and Chris great to have you here on the Sportsmax zone of course representing the St. Lucia Sports Tourism Authority sponsors of the Sportsmax zone for such a long time no great to have you here and I must say that I'm gonna try as quickly as possible to take advantage of that short trip to St Lucia from Jamaica because it usually is a bit of a headache getting to St Lucia from from this side of the completely visa-free yes I'm happy an international masters football tournament coming up in May look out for me I mean I may drop in yes I just want to say one more thing before we go up I want to just encourage everyone to visit St Lucia Jasmine ads dot com to find out more about tickets the full lineup etc go on get your tickets now book your flights now do it now or it might just be too late I believe him don't take what he just said lightly we'll be back with more of the Sportsmax zone football talk coming up after the break