The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Last-over heartbreak as England hit for six
World t20: Brathwaite blasts West Indies to Glory with four sixes
West Indies batsmen Carlos Brathwaite, right, celebrates with Marlon Samuels after hitting four consecutive sixes off England bowler Ben Stokes, left, in the last over of the ICC World Twenty20 cricket final to secure victory in Kolkata.
England suffered last-over heartbreak in the final of the World Twenty20 as Carlos Brathwaite clubbed Ben Stokes for four successive sixes to seal an unforgettable West Indies win at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
England were strong favourites to lift the crown with the Caribbean side needing 19 off the last six balls of the match.
But Brathwaite launched an audacious assault on Stokes, heaving him over the ropes four times in a row to seal a four-wicket success and pen a stunning denouement.
In an ill-tempered contest, played out in front of 66,000 rapt Indian fans, West Indies celebrated victory ecstatically, as Stokes sat crumpled in the middle.
Marlon Samuels played a brilliant anchor innings of 85 in 66 balls – having been reprieved on 27 when a low catch by Jos Buttler grazed the turf – but he needed Brathwaite’s brute force to finish the job with 34 in just 10 deliveries.
That Joe Root was on the losing side is a near travesty. He bailed his side out from a rocky start with 54 hard-fought runs and took an unlikely starring role with the ball, dismissing Chris Gayle and Johnson Charles in a strikingly effective one-over experiment.
That gave England confidence that their 155 for six was enough – and, in truth, they seemed ahead of the game for most of the West Indian pursuit.
But this is a heavy-hitting side who do not know when they are beaten, and Brathwaite’s blows saw them become the tournament’s first-ever two-time champions.
Instead of accepting the plaudits for his match-winning display, Brathwaite lavished praise on Samuels, who also played a starring role in his side’s World Twenty20 win four years ago.
“Today Marlon Samuels, after a slow start, took responsibility right away and played a fantastic knock,” Brathwaite told Sky Sports 2.
Meanwhile, England captain Eoin Morgan was left to lament the “cruel” nature of cricket.
“This is not Ben’s fault, we’re all in this together,” said Morgan. “But it’s quite simple from my point of view: he is going to be devastated.
“It’ll take its toll in the next couple of days, but we share everything we do. We stick together as a side,” he added.
“First and foremost I can’t fault anything we did with the ball or in the field. But we let ourselves down tremendously with the bat. I thought we were terrible. We were probably 40 short, it was a 180-190 wicket.”
Stokes took to Twitter after the dust had settled, writing: “Overwhelmed by all the support of everyone after a disappointing last over..... So proud to of represented my country in a World Cup final.
“To everyone who has supported us thank you very much you’ve been awesome... congrats to the West Indies on winning a great final.”