Photo: Marlon Samuels and Carlos Brathwaite celebrate a famous victory over England in the finals off the ICC World T-20. (Getty Images)
Unlikely heroes Marlon Samuels and Carlos Brathwaite took the West Indies to a breath taking four wicket win over England in the final of the ICC World T-20 Final on Sunday as the Caribbean team became the first nation to lift the trophy twice. Following on the women’s success from earlier in the day, Brathwaite powered home his team to victory smashing four sixes off the first four deliveries of the final over to steer the West Indies home at 161/6.
Captain Darren Sammy won his 10th straight toss and sent the English side to take first strike in the Championship Final. England lost their first wicket without a run on the board when Jason Roy was bowled by Samuel Badree from the second ball of the game. Alex Hayles went in the second over off the bowling of Andre Russell at 8/2 and when skipper Eoin Morgan went at 23-3, becoming Badree’s second victim, England were in big trouble.
But a defiant Joe Root (54 in 36 balls) along Josh Butler (36) helped steady the innings for England. Butler went at 84-4 in the 12th over before England lost two wickets in the 14th over bowled by Dwayne Bravo, as they struggled to put a decent score together. But a flurry of runs near the end from David Willey (21) helped push the score to 155-9. This was the highest number of run achieved in a T20 finals
When it came to the West Indies turn to bat, the ship got off to a rocky sail, with three wickets falling for just 11 runs. The English men set out to tame a rampant Chris Gayle and Johnson Charles and they were successful getting the two openers for a mere 5 runs.
Charles skied the second ball of Root first over to Stokes to depart for one and Gayle made just four runs. Root also took care of Gayle with Stokes again taking the catch to leave the West Indies reeling at 5/2. At the end of five overs it was West Indies 21/3 chasing 156 to win as semi-final hero Lendl Simmons failed to trouble the scorers.
It was down to Marlon Samuels who began his business but not before he was wrongfully judged to be out with the score at 37. The return of the “batting manual” to the crease after the review decision meant he had a chance to do exactly what he did in 2012, steer his side home and he did just that blasting a record T20 of 85 not out off 66 balls. The performance won him the man of the match award.
“When it comes to finals I always turn up and do well for the team. I grew up watching English cricket so all respect to them but we just want to move from strength to strength for the Caribbean,” Samuels in his post-match interview
Sammy, and Russell never lasted long, both going cheaply to leave the West Indies in spot of bother at 107/7 and needing 45 off 24 balls heading into the 17 over.
Brathwaite joined Samuels and they lifted the side to 128/7, needing 27 of the last two overs. The penultimate over went for a mere 8 runs putting England firmly in the drivers seat.
With the West Indies needing 19 runs to win off the final over, Morgan turned to Ben Stokes to take England home. But Brathwaite hit the first delivery of the final over for a leg side six to put the pressure back on England. Another leg side six from the second ball had the West Indies fans jumping in the stands and the players on their feet in the dug out. Another huge six off the third delivery, this time over long off, drew the scores level and left the West Indies needing one run to win with three balls remaining. Brathwaite then obliged by plundering a fourth massive six to send the Caribbean team into sheer ecstasy and leaving Stokes on his haunches in the middle of the pitch. It was the fifth straight win for the West Indies over England in the World Cup.
“That was an amazing knock from Marlon. He took responsibility and played a fantastic knock. I can’t really express how much of a top knock that was. The U-19s did it, the girls did it, and now us,” Brathwaite, who finished on 34 not out, explained.
A very jubilant Captain Darren Sammy, gave commendations to the 15 man unit along with the coaching staff for their outstanding roles which culminated into a moment of glorious celebrations for the Caribbean side.
“We have a pastor in the team in Andre Fletcher and he keeps on praying. We’re going to cherish this win for a long time. I said we had 15 match winners; no one gave us a chance and in every match someone stepped up and took responsibility. To see Carlos step up in his debut World Cup shows the depth we have in T20 and we hope we can continue our development in One Day and Test cricket.”
The West Indies women had earlier defeated three times champions Australia, to claim their first World T20 title.
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