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| West Indies Team celebrating their ICC World Twenty20 Title after remarkable win of a ICC title since 2004 against host Sri Lanka on Sunday, October 7, 2012 |
It was an historic day for West Indies
cricket as the Caribbean side, thanks largely to an astonishing lone hand by Marlon Samuels, overcame the
home team Sri Lanka by 36
runs to win the ICC World Twenty20 at the R Premadasa International Stadium in Colombo
The final was
billed as the battle between West Indies stylishness and Sri Lankan
discipline, but when it came to their on-field displays it was the men from the
Caribbean who displayed the stronger discipline, as they wore down Sri Lanka
Chasing a
challenging 138 to win on a sluggish turning wicket, Sri Lanka
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| What a long waited victory for Gayle! |
Jayawardene and Sangakkara, after Dilshan's departure, consolidated well by
putting on 42 runs for the second wicket, although at a slow pace. But
Sangakkara's dismissal in the 10th over, caught at deep square leg off Samuel
Badree, opened the floodgates. Angelo Mathews went three runs later, bowled by
West Indies skipper Darren Sammy, and then in the thirteenth over Sri Lanka
At 64 for
six, the game was as good as won, although Nuwan Kulasekara briefly threatened
a coup with a 16-ball 26. But it was to be West Indies' day as Malinga became
Narine's third wicket, and the one that sealed West Indies
first ICC multinational tournament triumph since the 2004 Champions' Trophy.
Earlier, the West Indies batsmen faced similar
problems when at the start of the innings. Johnson Charles was out in the first
over trying to clear the infield against Angelo Mathews, and Chris Gayle's
innings could not have been in sharper contrast to what fans have come to
expect of the big-hitting Jamaican. Gayle played and missed for 15 balls for
only three runs before being trapped in front by Ajantha Mendis in the sixth
over, by which time West Indies had crawled to
just 14.
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| The real leader and future of West Indies Team who received the title for his team victory |
Samuels was watching from the other end as his side's ambitions of
lifting the treasured title seemed to have vanished with Gayle's departure. At
the end of ten overs West Indies had reached
32 for two and Samuels on 20 off 32 balls, a competitive score a distant dream.
Nuwan Kulasekara then dropped Samuels on the boundary, and then the match
turned, mostly through some astonishing strokeplay by Samuels. He picked the
opposition's best bowler, Lasith Malinga, for particularly harsh punishment.
Malinga's second over, the thirteenth of the innings, was hammered for 21 runs,
with Samuels clobbering three sixes. Ajantha
Mendis , Sri Lanka
Ajantha then put Sri Lanka on top again,
picking up two in two balls -- that of Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell --
leaving West Indies at 89 for five at the end of the sixteenth. But it was
Samuel's day and he again reserved his best for the best as 19 came off
Malinga's last over, which saw a boundary and two sixes off Samuel's bat. The
second of the two maximums, an almighty crack over the long on boundary, was
recorded as the biggest six of the tournament at 108 metres.
In all, Samuel's
had plundered 39 runs off the 11 balls he faced from Malinga. He was finally
dismissed in the next over, attempting his seventh six off Akila Dananjaya to
be caught at midwicket for 78 off 56 balls, including 52 off his last 19deliveries. It was then left to captain Darren Sammy, who scored 26 off 15
deliveries to take West Indies to 137, a total
scarcely imaginable ten overs previously.
