In the end, it didn’t really matter that Virat Kohli and India failed to make the World Twenty20 Final. The noise resounding around Eden Gardens as the West Indians produced an incredible finale indicated that a crowd loves entertainers; and for all their inconsistency, Darren Sammy’s team certainly foot the bill!
Yet the celebrations started before the West Indian men had even taken the field. It was some surprise when the women’s team upset the Aussies to claim the first trophy of the day. Meg Lanning played some typically cultured strokes and Elyse Villani matched her half-century en route for 148-5. That is often enough to win, but Stafanie Taylor’s team were not to be out-done. Hayley Matthews made a shaky start before unleashing three sixes, one of them 82 metres. She and Taylor shared a century opening stand but there was still work to do. Eventually, it fell to Britney Cooper to scramble the winning two runs in the last over, and the Windies had completed stage one of Finals Day.
I’d say it was impossible to call the winners of the men’s competition. West Indies had looked menacing throughout, while England sometimes did their usual thing of seemingly trying to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. But this is T20 and any match can be decided by a single innings of brilliance, or even just one decisive over with bat or ball.
Sammy won the toss and probably had little hesitation in sending England into bat. When Hales, Roy and Morgan were back on the bench inside five overs, life looked good for the West Indians. However, Joe Root and Jos Buttler are no mugs, and never over-awed by the occasion. They lifted the score towards respectability before Dwayne Bravo and Carlos Brathwaite ripped out Root, Stokes and Ali inside four deliveries. The total of 155-9 looked distinctly moderate, but this proved to be a genuine contest right to the death.
David Willey kept both openers quiet in the first over, but it was part-time spinner Root who induced skied drives from Charles and Gayle to Ben Stokes on the long on/off boundary. Semi-final hero Simmons was lbw first ball, leaving the side struggling at 11-3. The experienced pair of Bravo and Marlon Samuels proceeded to do what Root and Buttler had done earlier in the evening, but Willey, Rashid and even Jordan managed to restrict the flow of boundaries until Ben Stokes was handed the ball for the final over.
Young Carlos Brathwaite was on strike, with 19 needed. Surely that would be beyond them. But Stokes’ first ball was poor, a leg-stumper allowing the batsman to hoist it into the stands. Then blow me, the second ball was almost identical; this time directed over long on. Stokes looked stunned, but a few yorkers and it still could have been England’s game. Ball three was straighter, but Brathwaite was in the zone; it sailed high and mighty over long off. Of course, Morgan had to bring his field in close but it wouldn’t have mattered had he been allowed to place all ten on the boundary because the match was completed with a fourth successive six!
Cue the now-familiar ‘Champion’ dance, not just by the men but by the women, who raced to the middle clutching their own W20 trophy. What an incredible way to end a competition!
Samuels claimed the Man of the Match award for his doughty 85 not out, but it was Brathwaite whose long arms applied the coup de grace to England’s attack. I reckon justice was done. Kohli may have been named Player of the Tournament for his three half-centuries but the West Indians had different match-winners each time and thoroughly deserved their success.
With the administration of Caribbean cricket in such disarray, I sincerely hope that the West Indies really do kick on from this momentous day, attracting not just the spectators and TV money (sadly vital in this day and age) but also youngsters keen to play the game. The men obviously lead the way in terms of earnings, prestige and marketing power, but I hope the performances of Taylor, Dottin et al also make a splash amongst the women, too.
As for the rest of the competitors in India these past few weeks, the IPL franchises might just be eyeing a few different faces for a change. In particular, New Zealand’s spin duo of Sodhi and Santner worked miracles but English batsmen Roy and Root must join Buttler in the ranks of world-class T20 strikers.
T20 is not known as a format for bowlers, but spinners Samuel Badree and Imran Tahir also enhanced their reputations, as did India’s left-arm seam veteran Ashish Nehra. It was a dismal competition for Pakistan and Shahid Afridi, although I note the skipper has refused to retire completely. Fair enough; there is more money and kudos to be earned in T20 but will he still be around for the next World T20 tourney?
For now, let’s simply enjoy the exuberance of the West Indian victory celebrations. It may be only T20 but such enthusiasm is so infectious!
