Darren Sammy, West Indies captain and man-of-the-match
By Earl Moxam
West Indies pulled off a sensational win over Australia on Friday to keep the Caribbean side's campaign in the World T20 Cricket Championship on track. Australia, a pre-championship favourite, now faces the prospect of an early exit, having lost two from two.
Australia won the toss, batted first and made a competitive 178/8. Glen Maxwell top scored with 45 (22 balls), with other useful contributions coming from Brad Hodge (35) and David Warner (20).
Bowling for the West Indies, Sunil Narine took 2-19 (4 overs), Marlon Samuels 2-20 (2 0vers), Samuel Badree 2-37 (4 overs) and Krishmar Santokie 1-30 (4 overs).
It was not a daunting target however and the Aussies would have been mindful of the fact the West Indians have several power hitters who can make a mockery of a "competitive" total.
Resurgent Gayle
That target looked almost laughable during the first ten overs of the chase. Chris Gayle had been struggling with form and fitness so far in the tournament, which had seen him going at a strike rate far below that of his normal blistering pace. On this occasion, he did not take long to get into his strides, however, using just two balls from the second over of the match, bowled by Mitchell Starc, to get settled, and then he settled for four consecutive fours off the rest of the over.
Dwayne Smith joined the fun in over number three, bowled by Doug Bollinger, smacking him for two fours before Gayle upped the tempo with a six over square leg off the final ball.
Captain George Bailey was already searching for an answer to the early onslaught and he brought on Glenn Maxwell to bowl the fourth over. Different over, same result: second ball is smacked for four to long-off by Smith, who then takes a single off the next delivery, bringing Gayle back into action. Two fours by Gayle takes the tally of runs from the over to 14 with the West Indies rushing to 46/0 from only four overs, and already the Australians are sensing that 178 might have been a tad short of what was required.
Respite
There was a moment of respite for the Aussies with the dismissal of the dangerous Smith, caught wicket keeper Haddin off the bowling of Starc from the final ball of the fifth over, but that did not stall Gayle's momentum; he took eleven runs of the next over, bowled by Shane Watson, including his second six.
Gayle had reached 31 off the first 11 deliveries he faced and the expectation around the ground was that he would have continued blasting the bowlers to all corners of the park. He then reined in his aggression, however, and took a further 20 balls to reach his half-century. That was in the 11th over, at the end of which West Indies had reached 93/1, requiring a further 86 runs from 54 balls, at a run rate of 8.45.
Gayle fell for 53 at the start of the 13th over, which brought Marlon Samuels, his fellow Jamaican, to the wicket. Samuels, the star of the final with the bat against Sri Lanka in the last T20 World Championship, has not been his normal self so far in this tournament, and the rut continued in this match. He made only 12 from 15 balls before being dismissed by Starc, caught behind by Haddin. Before that, Lendl Simmonds had also been dismissed, caught Maxwell bowled Starc for 26 (24 balls), and the Caribbean team was beginning to lose momentum.
Bravo
Dwayne Bravo, hugely experienced in limited overs cricket, was determined to restore the balance in his side's favour, however, and he set about this task almost immediatel, smacking a six off Muirhead off the third delivery he faced. A six off the last ball of the 17th over signaled that the loss of Samuels earlier in the over would not be allowed to stall further stall the innings.
Captain's time
Captain Darren Sammy, who came in upon the dismissal of Samuels, knew he had no time to settle in. Bravo was going well at the other end, striking two boundaries off the 18th over which yielded 11 runs, but that still left the Windies needing 31 runs off the final 12 balls to win the match.
The pivotal 19th over was entrusted to Starc, Sammy the batsman facing. Ball-by-ball, this is how the over went: 6-2-4-2-4-1. So, with 19 off the penultimate over, the West Indians, through their captain, had brought the target down to 12 off the six balls of the final over.
The betting would have been on a West Indian victory at this stage, given the capabilities of the two men at the wicket and the number of wickets in hand. It seemed, however, that Faulkner, the bowler, had other ideas. The first ball was full, on leg stump, and Sammy, seemingly taken off guard, did not offer a shot. The next ball was even better - a yorker, on middle-stump, leaving the batsman no option but to dig it out and remain stuck in his crease.
Twelve runs off six balls had suddenly become a troubling 12 off four and the Aussies must have begun to scent a famous victory. One more dot ball would have almost confirmed that belief, if only Faulkner could have managed it. As it turned out, he only managed to deliver a juicy full toss and Sammy needed no further invitation to feast. He gave himself room and deposited it over long-off for six, making the target now six runs from three balls.
The pressure was now back on Faulkner. Could he manage to contain Sammy with his final three deliveries? Well, it took only one for the answer to come and it was a resounding NO!
The ball came full and straight at Sammy who blasted it straight back over the bowler's head for a huge six to take the game, with two balls to spare, and bring his teammates rushing out onto the field to celebrate with him and Bravo.
Sleeping lion
Sammy was inevitably named Man-of-Match for his 34 off 13 balls. In his post match comments made an interesting remark: "A lot of things were said before this match and you never wake up a sleeping lion," in reference to Chris Gayle.
In truth, Sammy himself did a pretty good imitation of a lion, wide awake and pouncing on its prey, on this pivotal day in the 2014 World T20 Championship in Bangladesh.
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