CARLOS Brathwaite hit four consecutive sixes in the last over as the West Indies stunned England to lift the World Twenty20 title on Sunday.
The Windies went into the last over needing 19 to win and with expert death bowler Ben Stokes handed the ball, it looked like England would see out the win.
But Brathwaite held his nerve to fire the Windies to an unlikely four-wicket win with two balls to spare, leaving Stokes devastated.
Marlon Samuels anchored the West Indies’ run chase of 156 with an unbeaten 85, including nine boundaries and two sixes, after England had posted 155/9 in their 20 overs.
After being reduced to 11 for three, Samuels single-handedly kept the Caribbean team in the hunt with his 66-ball blitz.
Brathwaite finished on 34 not out off just 10 balls as the 2012 champions completed a hat-trick of titles after the women’s team clinched their maiden trophy earlier yesterday.
The Under-19 team had already lifted the youth World Cup in February. The Windies also became the first team to lift the World T20 twice.
England’s batting hero, Joe Root, had hit the Windies hard with a double strike when he shared the new ball with David Willey to get the West Indies’ openers trudging back to the dugout.
Root struck on his first ball as Johnson Charles skied a catch to mid-wicket, but the really big wicket came on the third delivery when Chris Gayle departed. He tried an ambitious slog after hitting a first-ball boundary, but could only find the fielder at long-on to trigger wild celebrations in the English camp.
Willey then got semifinal star Lendl Simmons out leg before wicket for nought to leave the Windies tottering at 11 for three.
Samuels counter-attacked by hitting Chris Jordan for three boundaries in the sixth and last over of the powerplay, which cost England 16 runs.
Samuels, who was given an early life after wicketkeeper Jos Buttler grassed a caught behind, stitched a 75-run partnership with Dwayne Bravo (25) to help the Windies rebuild.
Willey turned up for his second spell with a double strike to hurt Windies’ hopes of reviving their chase as the asking-rate kept growing, but new man, Brathwaite, had other ideas.
“I can’t really express how much of a top knock (by Samuels) that was. We couldn’t turn back; it was a question of when, not if,” said Brathwaite.
AFP
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