The big-hitting Marlon Samuels fired the West Indies to the World Twenty 20 title after they recovered from a dreadful start.
In front of a partisan crowd in Colombo, St Lucian captain Darren Sammy called the toss correctly and decided to bat on a low, slow wicket. Many pundits had predicted that the toss, as it has been in the latter stages of the tournament, would be crucial. The stage was set for Chris Gayle to come in and virtually win the match in the first ten overs.
However, Johnson Charles was dismissed by Angelo Mathews in the first over and, even more disastrously for the West Indies, the talismanic Gayle was trapped LBW to Mendis for 3 off 16 balls. After 10 overs, the Windies were 32-2, and odds on a win for Darren Sammy's men drifted to 6.00 on this site.
It is worth mentioning the bowling of Ajantha Mendis: he got rid of four of the West Indies' top six. Today he bowled 4-0-12-4, usually match-winning figures.
Samuels had been there virtually from the start, having engaged in a failed re-building with Chris Gayle. He and Dwayne Bravo put on the biggest partnership of the match, adding on 59 for the third wicket. After Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell went cheaply, Samuels exploded into action in a partnership with Darren Sammy. He hit the longest six of the competition at 108 metres and ended up with 78 off 56 balls, an astonishing display given the wicket and that the rest of his team only made 59 between them. He was particularly merciless with Lasith Malinga, often rated as the best T20 pace bowler in the world. The 'slinger' finished with embarrassing figures of 4-0-54-0.
137/6 looked like a competitive score, but the second innings of the match began with Sri Lanka as slight favourites. Sri Lanka had been reliant all tournament (with good reason) on the top three of Dilshan, Jayawardena and Sangakkara, so it was a pivotal point in the game when Rampaul removed Dilshan's off-stump with the ball of the match.
Jayawardena and Sangakkara then put on 42, albeit rather slowly, but, after Badree git rid of Sangakkara for 22, Sri Lanka lurched from 48-2 to 69-7. The West Indies were brilliant in the field, with Jeevan Mendis and Thisara Perera both the victims of sharp run-outs.
There was a brief flurry of runs from Nuwan Kulasekara, who clubbed a valiant 26 from 13. However, the game was up as he holed out off the bowling of Narine. And when Ajantha Mendis was caught by the excellent Dwayne Bravo to the bowling of Narine, who finished with 3-9, it was confirmed that the West Indies had won their first international competition since the ICC Champions Trophy in 2004.
The West Indies were worthy winners: they have a team ideally suited to this format and, in Gayle and Samuels, they have two of the best T20 batsmen in the world. Sunil Narine came up with the goods when it mattered and they have an intelligent captain in Sammy.
The captain was ecstatic as he said 'This is the start of something special for the West Indies team and the fans back home.'
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