WT20 as it happened: West Indies are World T20 champions

WICKET! Sri Lanka 101 all out after 18.4 overs Lasith Malinga c Bravo b Narine 5 (13b, 0x4, 0x6) That’s it!!!! West Indies are world T20 champions! Malinga sends one straight to long-on and Bravo takes the last catch of the tournament before becoming part of a Caribbean Calypso on the park. WICKET! Sri Lanka 100-9 after 17.5 overs Ajantha Mendis c Bravo b Samuels 1 (2b, 0x4, 0x6) That should the cup for West Indies. Bravo breaks into a dance as Mendis is taken at deep mid-wicket. It’s all gone wrong for Sri Lanka. WICKET! Sri Lanka 96-8 after 16.3 overs Nuwan Kulasekara c Badree b Narine 26 (13b, 3x4, 1x6) Gone! Kulasekara’s cameo comes to an end as he tries to divert a short ball towards the ropes, but Badree’s there to take a fine running catch. Sri Lanka 93-7 after 16 overs Kulasekara 23, Malinga 2 Kulasekara is taking the game to the Windies. He smashes three fours and a six in the 16th over to take the team 44 runs closer to win. They have just 4 overs to do it though. WICKET! Sri Lanka 69-7 after 14.3 overs Lahiru Thirimanne c Charles b Sammy 4 (7b, 0x4, 0x6) Sri Lanka are vanishing without a trace. Thirimanne goes for the big shot over the on-side, can’t quite time the ball and is taken at long-on by Charles. Sammy is delighted. WICKET! Sri Lanka 65-6 after 13.1 overs Thisara Perera run out 3 (5b, 0x4, 0x6) Oh my! Sri Lanka are disintegrating. Direct hit from Ramdin does Perera in after he tries a quick single off his pads. WICKET! Sri Lanka 61-5 after 12.3 overs Jeevan Mendis run out 3 (3b, 0x4, 0x6) Disaster for SL. Fumble and then throw from the deep to Narine, who has the bails off in a split second. WICKET! Sri Lanka 60-4 after 12.1 overs Mahela Jayawardene c Sammy b Narine 33 (36b, 2x4, 0x6) Gone! Reverse sweep attempt and Sammy takes the catch at point. SL are in a bit of trouble. WICKET! Sri Lanka 51-3 after 10.4 overs Angelo Mathews b Sammy 1 (5b, 0x4, 0x6) Bowled him! Mathews goes for the premeditated paddle sweep, misses and the stumps are knocked out. The look on Mahela’s face says it all… WICKET! Sri Lanka 48-2 after 9.3 overs Kumar Sangakkara c Pollard b Badree 22 (26b, 2x4, 0x6) The pressure is starting to affect the Sri Lankans. They are going along at 5.05 runs per over. But the RR has climbed up to 8.57. To ease that Sanga went for the big pull but hit it straight to Pollard in the deep. The next 5 overs are going to be big. Sri Lanka 39-1 after 8 overs Jayawardene 22, Sangakkara 16 Narine has been introduced into the attack and the first ball turned a mile. But the difference between West Indies and Sri Lanka has been the ability to tap the ball for a single. If nothing else, it keeps the scorecard ticking. [caption id=“attachment_482320” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] AP[/caption] Sri Lanka 30-1 after 6 overs Jayawardene 19, Sangakkara 10 The PowerPlay overs are over. Sri Lanka haven’t done anything spectacular but they really don’t need to. They need to play normal cricket – pick up the ones and twos and hit the odd boundary. If they can do that, they’ll be home, safe and dry. Sri Lanka 15-1 after 3 overs Jayawardene 8, Sangakkara 6 Sri Lanka have their best men for the job in the middle and it didn’t help matters that Dwayne Bravo dropped Jayawardene in the deep. It was a tough catch but Bravo got both hands to it – it should have been taken. Close shave for Lanka. The gods are smiling at them today. http://twitter.com/rgcricket/status/254964816878370818 WICKET! Sri Lanka 6-1 after 1.1 overs T Dilshan b Rampaul 0 (3b, 0x4, 0x6) Wow. What a ball to silence the crowd at the R Premadasa. West Indies need quick and early wickets if they stand a chance of giving Sri Lanka a good fight. The ball pitched in line with the middle stump and moved enough to take the off-stump. Brilliant. West Indies 137-5 after 20 overs Sammy 26, Ramdin 4 29 runs were scored in the last three overs— the period where most games are decided. West Indies know it better than no one, having won against Australia by 16 runs after scoring 16 in the last over. Skipper Sammy’s three fours did some damage and Mahela looked a tad disappointed while walking off the pitch. He knows a good start means everything now. West Indies 108-5 after 17 overs Samuels 78, Sammy 2 Great innings from Samuels. He has held the Windies batting line-up together by sticking around, waiting for the bad balls and putting them away. He hammers Malinga for two sixes and four in the 17th over to take himself to 78. WICKETS! West Indies 87-5 after 15.3 overs Kieron Pollard c Dananjaya b Mendis 2 (4b, 0x4, 0x6) Andre Russell lbw b BAW Mendis 0 (1b, 0x4, 0x6) Dananjaya could well have Jonty Rhodes there! Pollard’s slice to point is taken at the second attempt and then Mendis gets another LBW. This is crazy cricket. WICKET! West Indies 73-3 after 14 overs Dwayne Bravo lbw b Mendis 19 (19b, 0x4, 1x6) Ooooh! Tauffel doesn’t make many mistakes, but this time he has given Bravo out and replays show there was a huge inside edge before the ball struck the pad. Not a great bday gift that one. West Indies 63-2 after 13 overs Samuels 39, Bravo 17 Two sixes from Bravo and two more from Samuels eases the pressure a wee bit. Samuels plays his shots especially well, digging the ball out from the block-hole to send it over the fence. Malinga’s not happy… he’s gone for three of those four sixes. West Indies 38-2 after 11 overs Samuels 23, Bravo 8 Who says T20 is a batsman’s game? Still just the one boundary for WI. Dananjaya has been introduced to the attack. He gives away just three runs in his first over of the night. West Indies 25-2 after 9 overs Samuels 19, Bravo 3 With nine overs gone, WI have managed just one boundary. That is a stunning stat. Dananjaya, Malinga and Kulasakera all stopping possible fours on the ropes. SL are pumped up. https://twitter.com/AltCricket/status/254948802333646848 West Indies 18-2 after 7 overs Samuels 11, Bravo 1 Happy birthday to Bravo, who turns 29 today. But he’ll be lucky to get that many runs considering the way SL are bowling. Every delivery has screamed of discipline. Excellent stuff. Run-rate is just above 2-runs an over. WICKET! West Indies 14-2 after 5.5 overs Chris Gayle lbw b Mendis 3 (16b, 0x4, 0x6) Mendis gets his man! Excellent bowling from Sri Lanka so far and the pressure’s paid off. There was a big appeal on the third ball from Mendis which wasn’t given, but the fifth ball did the trick… no doubts about that one in Tauffel’s mind. West Indies 12-1 after 5 overs Gayle 3, Samuels 8 No boundaries in this over. Actually, Gayle has left a couple of balls moving away from him. Malinga getting some odd bounce in that area and Gayle playing very cautiously. Intense cricket. West Indies 8-1 after 4 overs Gayle 1, Samuels 6 First boundary for the Windies and it takes 19 deliveries to get there. Samuels drives through the off-side and the ball races away. There was a big LBW appeal on Gayle, but Simon Tauffel remains unfazed. West Indies 2-1 after 3 overs Gayle 0, Samuels 1 This is not a slow start… this is a snail-start by Windies standards. Gayle is not off the mark after facing seven balls and the Johnson wicket must play on their minds. WICKET! West Indies 0-1 after 0.5 overs J Charles c Kulasekara b Mathews 0 (5b, 0x4, 0x6)  What a start for SL. He tried to get quick runs straight down the ground and ends up mistiming it to mid-off. West Indies have won the toss and will bat first Toss up in a bit. We’ve just received word that Chris Gayle is fit and warming up for tonight’s final. Not that there any doubt… this is just to confirm that there will be ball boys on the terrace of the stadium. [caption id=“attachment_482243” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Will Gayle indulge in some Gangnam style tonight? AFP[/caption] Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene, Angelo Mathews, Akila Dananjaya, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Ajantha Mendis, Jeevan Mendis, Thisara Perera, Kumar Sangakkara, Lahiru Thirimanne West Indies**:**  Darren Sammy, Dwayne Bravo, Samuel Badree, Johnson Charles, Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels