West Indies Crowned ICC Twenty20 World Cup Winners

Winners of ICC World t20, West Indies
Celebrating with a "GangnamStyle " dance

In one of the most electrifying match that cricket have ever seen, West Indies bowled themselves into the winners rows of World Twenty20 ICC cricket champions. Darren Sammy's West Indies were crowned the new World Twenty20 champions on Sunday after a 36-run victory over hosts Sri Lanka in a dramatic final in Colombo. 

West Indies, lefts the ICC Twenty20 Cricket Trophy

The entire team was dancing and entertaining the crowd with the Gangnam style Dance bringing their best balling in the final, winning a tense finale even after Chris Gayle didn't fire. Samuels, Narine, Sammy have all played their part and this victory will do a lot of good both to West Indies cricket and world cricket.

The West Indies, restricted to 137-6 after electing to bat, hit back to bowl Sri Lanka out for 101 and silence a sell-out crowd of 35,000 at the Premadasa stadium that included President Mahinda Rajapakse.

It was the first world title for the West Indies since the 50-over World Cup triumph under Clive Lloyd in 1979, and handed Sri Lanka their fourth defeat in a major final since 2007.

Spinner Sunil Narine grabbed three wickets for nine runs and Sammy took two as the hosts, who had excelled in the field in the first session, undid the good work with irresponsible batting in the second.

Skipper Mahela Jayawardene survived two dropped catches to top-score with 33, while tailender Nuwan Kulasekara hit 26 off 13 balls, including three fours and a six in the 16th over of seamer Ravi Rampaul.

Sri Lanka's unorthodox spinner Ajantha Mendis had taken four wickets for 12 runs as the West Indies collapsed once Chris Gayle was removed in the sixth over for only three runs.

Sad Face of Sri Lanka's Supporter 

Marlon Samuels was the only batsman to defy the spot-on Sri Lankan bowling, making 78 off 56 balls with the help of six sixes and three boundaries.

His brilliant strokeplay helped the West Indies add 105 runs in the last 10 overs after they were reduced to 32-2 from the first 10.

Sri Lanka lost opener Tillakaratne Dilshan in the second over before Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara added 42 for the second wicket.

The hosts were cruising at 48-1 in the 10th over when the West Indies bounced back by claiming four wickets for 13 runs.

Sangakkara holed out in the deep off Samuel Badree for 22, Angelo Mathews was bowled by Darren Sammy, Jayawardene was caught off a reverse sweep and Jeevan Mendis ran himself out.

Sri Lanka had taken an early grip on the match by keeping the West Indies down to 14-2 in the first six powerplay overs after Johnson Charles had been dismissed off the fifth ball of the match.

The West Indies had to wait till the 19th delivery to score their first run with the bat and Gayle needed nine balls to get off the mark.

The left-hander struggled for 16 deliveries to make three before he was trapped leg-before by Mendis in the sixth over.

West Indies Celebrating their Victory
after winning the ICC Twenty20 Final

It was not till the 12th over that the West Indies, who had pummelled Australia in the semi-finals, showed the first signs of aggression as Dwayne Bravo pulled 19-year-old spinner Akila Dananjaya for a six over mid-wicket.

Samuels responded by smashing three sixes in the next over of sling-arm fast bowler Lasith Malinga, two of them in succession over mid-wicket and extra-cover.

Bravo helped Samuels add 59 runs for the third wicket when he was given out leg-before by Australian umpire Simon Taufel, even though replays showed the ball go off the bat on to the pad.

The 17th over, bowled by Malinga, produced 19 runs as Samuels smashed a boundary and two consecutive sixes to leave the frontline bowler with unflattering figures of 0-54 from his four overs.

Sri Lanka have now lost two successive 50-over World Cup finals in 2007 and 2011 and two World Twenty20 finals in 2009 and 2012.

West Indies partying with Manager Richie Richardson

West Indies Advances to Super Eight in ICC t20 World Cup

Sunil Narine celebrates

 the fall of Ed Joyce, Ireland v West Indies, 

World Twenty20, Group B, Colombo, September 24, 2012.

West Indies entered the Super Eights of the ICC World Twenty20 by virtue of superior net run-rate after their final group league encounter against Ireland was called off due to heavy downpour at the R Premadasa Stadium on
Monday.

West Indies and Ireland both lost their opening games to Australia, however, it was the West Indies powerful batting line that placed them in a superior position with a run-rate of -1.855 over Ireland's -2.092. They will now face New Zealand, England, and Sri Lanka at the the Super Eights.

A disciplined effort by West Indies bowlers saw them restrict Ireland to a modest 129 for six in the rain-curtailed final Group B match. 

The match was reduced to 19-overs-a-side affair after steady drizzle delayed the proceedings by 50 minutes. 

Chris Gayle was the most successful bowler with figures of two for 21 while Ravi Rampaul, captain Darren Sammy, Fidel Edwards and Sunil Narine got a wicket apiece after the West Indian skipper opted to field. 

Ireland captain William Porterfield was again out of the very first ball of the match. After Shane Watson got rid off him with a perfect bouncer in their last game, it was Fidel Edwards' turn to clean him up with a lethal yorker which he failed to dig out. 

Paul Stirling (19) and Ed Joyce (17) then hit a few lusty blows as Ireland reached 33 for one after five overs when steady drizzle stopped play. 

After a break of nearly an hour, the proceedings started once again and off-spinner Narine removed Joyce. It was an off-break which saw the left-hander getting bowled round his legs. 

Stirling, who was in a mood to hit every ball out of sight tried to pull one from Sammy but only managed to offer a simple catch to Gayle at mid-wicket. 

At 37 for three, Niall O'Brien and Gary Wilson got together and added 33 for the fourth wicket before bowling change by Sammy did the trick. 

Gayle was brought in to bowl his fast off-breaks. Wilson, who scored 21 with help of three boundaries went for an ambitious cut shot but only managed to edge one to Denesh Ramdin behind the stumps. 

The highlight of that dismissal was that of a happy Gayle breaking into an impromptu jig that resembled 'bhangra'. 

The O'Brien brothers then got together. Niall played the hook shot off Andre Russell's bowling that fetched him a six while Kevin lofted a length delivery from Edwards over long-off. 

At 96 for 4, it was Gayle, who bowled an accurate delivery right in the blockhole to Niall that disturbed his off-stump. The Irish batsman scored 25 off 21 balls with the help of a solitary six. 

Kevin followed suit when his pre-meditated shuffle outside off-stump to a Rampaul delivery saw his off-stump uprooted. 

Nigel Jones (14) and Trent Johnston (15) then added 22 runs for the unbroken seventh-wicket partnership to take Ireland forward.

The only worry for Darren Sammy's men will be entering the next stage without having won a single match among the eight teams that will be fighting it out in the Super Eights}.

Sunil Narine Named Emerging Cricketer of the Year 2012

Sunil Narine
Awarded Emerging Cricketer of the year 2012

Sunil Narine has capture the Emerging Cricketer of the year in the ICC Awards 2012. Sunil Philip Narine was born 26 May 1988, and is a Trinidadian cricketer who plays for the West Indies. Primarily an off spin bowler, he is also a left-handed batsman. Domestically, Narine has played for Trinidad and Tobago since 2009 and made his One Day International debut in December 2011, and Test debut in June 2012. Narine's participated in the 2012 Indian Premier League where he represented Kolkata Knight Riders and was named Player of the Tournament in his first season.  

The 24-year-old from Trinidadian, follows in the footsteps of last year’s winner and fellow West Indies bowler, Devendra Bishoo, in claiming the award. The off-spinner played in three Tests for the West Indies claiming 12 wickets at an average 31.50, while in the 15 ODIs he played in he claimed 28 wickets at an average of 18.82. 

Narine was the top choice of the 32-person voting academy, coming out ahead of Sri Lanka’s Dinesh Chandimal, Doug Bracewell of New Zealand and Australia’s James Pattinson. 

In Sri Lanka as part of the West Indies ICC World Twenty20 squad, he said upon receiving the award: “We’ve a good junior set-up so hopefully the awards keep coming for us. I think this has been the best 12 months for me and I just keep adapting the best as possible. Hopefully I can keep going the best I can and keep competing for the West Indies. 

“I need to digest this and this one step at time and enjoy every minute that I play. This award means a lot for me and it’s an encouragement to keep going and continue to improve. I dedicate this award to my father who kept pushing me, who took me to the Queen’s Park Oval regularly and told me I would have my moment and I’d like to thank him for his help and all my family who support me.”

The ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year Award was one of the 11 individual prizes given at this year’s LG ICC Awards. Players eligible for this award must be under 26 years of age at the start of the voting period (4 August 2011) and have played no more than five Test matches and/or 10 ODIs before the start of the voting period. Previous winners of this award include Irfan Pathan (2004), Kevin Pietersen (2005), Ian Bell (2006). Shaun Tait (2007), Ajantha Mendis (2008), Peter Siddle (2009), Steven Finn (2010) and Devendra Bishoo (2011).

Based on the period between 4 August 2011 and 6 August 2012, the LG ICC Awards 2012 take into account performances by players and officials in a remarkable period for the game. 

For all the individual awards (with the exceptions of the Spirit of Cricket Award and the Umpire of the Year), a long-list compiled by the selection panel was forwarded to a 32-person Voting Academy made up of former players, respected members of the media, an elite umpire and an elite match referee. They voted on a three, two, one basis (with three being the highest value) and the winners emerged.

That period includes such high-profile events as the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2012 held in the UAE, the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier in Bangladesh in 2011, various rounds of the ICC Intercontinental Cup, as well as numerous Pepsi ICC World Cricket League and Championship fixtures, plus several bilateral Test and ODI series.

The LG ICC Awards ceremony is now in its ninth year and this year it will be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Previous ceremonies were held in London (2004 and 2011), Sydney (2005), Mumbai (2006), Johannesburg (2007 and 2009), Dubai (2008) and Bengaluru (2010).

source: Indian News

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