Double Victory for Carribean Cricketers as both men’s and women’s team crowned T20 Champions
West Indies snatched the World T20 title away from England in the most dramatic fashion, slamming four sixes in the final over
For consecutive sixes from Carlos Brathwaite in the very last over and the innings of a lifetime from Marlon Samuels steered West Indies towards historic double win as they emerged as champions of the ICC World Twenty20.
West Indies men’s team created history by winning their 2nd ICC World Twenty20 title on Sunday after defeating a resilient England by four wickets in the summit clash at the historic Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Earlier, West Indies women’s team claimed their first Women’s World Twenty20 with a pulsating eight-wicket win over Australia in Kolkata.
Smashing sixes by Brathwaite in men’s game ruined England’s dream of becoming the first team to win the title.
Samuels hit a spectacular unbeaten 85 from 66 balls, to mastermind a West Indian chase of 156 that had been faltering at 11 for 3 and again at 107 for 6. But the icing on the cake was supplied by the giant figure of Brathwaite. With 19 needed off Ben Stokes’s final over, he launched his first ball over fine leg for six, then mowed the second over long-on and the third over long-off.
West Indies’ players rushed on to the ground to celebrate and then broke into an impromptu jig after becoming the first team to win the World Twenty20 title on two occasions, after success in 2012.
“It’s something we’ll cherish for a long time,” West Indian captain Darren Sammy said. “Every game somebody stepped up. It was good to see Carlos play like that in his debut World Cup. It shows the T20 depth we have in the Caribbean.”
It was a double delight for West Indies fans as their women’s team pulled off a surprise eight-wicket victory over Australia in the final played earlier.
“For today, I’m going to celebrate with these 15 men and coaching staff. I don’t know when I’m going to be playing with these guys again because we don’t get selected for one-day cricket. We don’t know when we’re going to be playing T20. So this win, I want to thank you my team, I want to thank you coaching staff … everybody know West Indies are champion!” West Indies captain Darren Sammy said.
Emotional Sammy disappointed by lack of WICB support
West Indies captain Darren Sammy gave an emotional speech at the presentation ceremony after his team won the World T20 final against England at Eden Gardens.
“We started this journey … we all know we had … people were wondering whether we would play this tournament. We had a lot of issues, we felt disrespected by our board, Mark Nicholas described our team as a team with no brains. All these things before the tournament just brought this team together. I really want to thank these 15 men, the ability to just put all those adversities aside and to come out and play this type of cricket in front of such passionate fans, it’s just tremendous.”
West Indies win by eight wickets to secure first World Twenty20 crown
Powerful half-centuries from Hayley Matthews and skipper Stafanie Taylor fired the West Indies to their maiden World Twenty20 crown in a thrilling last-over win against Australia in Kolkata on Sunday.
Chasing a competitive 149 for a win against the three-time champions, West Indies rode a blistering 120-run opening stand between Matthews (66) and Taylor (59) to triumph with three balls to spare.
The Windies won by eight wickets at the Eden Gardens stadium as they picked up their first win against Australia at their ninth attempt.
“Words can’t explain what I’m feeling right now. Means so much for us and especially the people of the Caribbean,” said Windies wicketkeeper Merissa Aguilleira.
Player of the match Matthews and Taylor, who looked determined from the word go, acquired 16 runs off the sixth over, including a humongous six from Matthews.
