By Adrian Meredith
VICTORIA, Australia (TheSportsNEXT) October 9, 2012: As at the end of the Super Eight stage of the ICC World Twenty20 2012, we all thought that it was close to inevitable that the final would be Sri Lanka vs Australia.
They were the two in-form teams, the two most consistent teams, the two teams that had beaten all before them. But while Sri Lanka made it to the final, Australia didn't, and indeed Australia didn't even get close.
While India were busy complaining about how unfair it was that they could miss the semi finals in spite of winning four of their five games, implying that it should have been them, not West Indies, who only won two and had a no result, there West Indies were, showing that a team that had got to the semi final in the weakest position of the four, could really decimate the strongest looking team in Australia.
It wasn't that Australia played particularly badly - West Indies just had perfect tactics and perfect execution. That 205 would have beaten any team in the world! The only question was whether they could repeat it and if they did, would Sri Lanka be able to combat it, or was it, like Brendon McCullum's mercurial 123 against Bangladesh, a one off.
Sri Lanka had chosen to go with mystery ahead of well known by going with Dananjala ahead of Rangana Herath but were otherwise unchanged, while West Indies had no changes of all.
Scarily, West Indies batted first. The wicket of Johnson Charles in the first over should have made Sri Lanka happy; but they were still nervous about the Gayle factor. Even though the first over was a maiden, and it took them until the third over to get the first runs off the bat, still they knew that West Indies could launch. While Gayle is usually good against spinners, the mystery of Ajantha Mendis undid him and when he was out West Indies should have fallen apart. Except that they didn't.
Sri Lanka should have been happy at their containing effort. West Indies were going at all of 4 runs per over for half of the innings - thoroughly inadequate when in most matches the par score is about 160 - at 8 runs per over. But the problem is that with eight wickets in hand and some huge big hitters to come, they knew that West Indies were capable.
Lasith Malinga, the highest wicket taker in domestic T20 history, was belted all around. But they persisted with him. Perhaps Kulasekera, whose three overs went for 21 overs, should have got a fourth. Perhaps Dananjala, whose three overs went for just 16, including a wicket, should have had another one. Perhaps Dilshan or Perera should have bowled. But you can hardly blame Jayawardene for persisting with Malinga. Sure he went for 54 off his four overs and was easily the most expensive bowler; but how can you take him off? He is their trump card.
When West Indies decided to launch, it almost seemed pre-planned. Marlon Samuels and Dwayne Bravo were the first to do it, and it had that same feeling to the game against Australia - like they could do anything - like any ball, even the best ball by the best bowler - could be smashed away for the maximum. Mis-hits went for six, good balls went for six. It didn't seem to matter what Sri Lanka did, they just smacked 6s galore.
Luckily for Sri Lanka they only had 10 overs of mayhem to contend with, instead of the full 20. Luckily they took a few wickets in the process too. Unfortunately, even number seven Darren Sammy smacked it to all parts. Unfortunately, even number eight Denesh Ramdin can bat.
137 seemed like a competitive total. West Indies would have to bowl very well to win it but they had all of the momentum. Marlon Samuels had finished with 78 off 56 balls, with six 6s and three 4s, an innings that some compared with VVS Laxman's 281 in that test match against Australia in 2001, the unwinnable one that they won, rated as the best test innings of all time. This was perhaps the best T20 innings! In a final, in a situation where West Indies were being decimated, from an impossible position!
When Sri Lanka came out to bat they still knew that 150 was a par score on this group and 137 was inadequate. West Indies, in effect, only has two good bowlers in Narine and Badree. Beyond that, they have a fast bowler who isn't all that good in Ravi Rampaul and then a whole bunch of all rounders, like Sammy, Powell, Gayle, Samuels and Russell. All that they had to do was to see off the 8 overs from Narine and Badree and punish the others for 12 overs.
But Sri Lanka lost Dilshan early and then let the runs dry up too much while Jayawardene and Sangakkara were batting. They were in a winning position while they were there, right up until the 10th over when Sangakkara was out; but as soon as he was gone, the match went from Sri Lanka winning to West Indies winning.
Sangakkara fell, then Mathews, then Jayawardene, then Jeevan Mendis, Perera and Thiraminne, as they went from 1/48 off 9.2 overs to 7/69 off 14.3 overs. The run rate required went from 90 off 10.4 overs (a bit over 8 per over) to 69 off 5.3 (over 13 per over). Shamefully, 2 of the wickets were run outs, while the others were to every bowler that West Indies used. No bowler was bowling up a storm - it was just bad batting. Just pressure. Just the fear, that in their heads they were thinking - how the hell did they get 137 when they were going at barely 2 runs per over early, and only 4 runs per over for the first 10?
But then, in an Umar Gul-like effort, Kulasekera suddenly smashed the ball to all places as he scored 24 off a single over. But then, just as there looked to be some hope, as they required just 44 off the last 4, straight after scoring that huge over, he was out. And then the others fell in a heap after him. Sri Lanka didn't even last their full 20 overs and were all out with almost 2 overs to spare, losing by 36 runs.
For West Indian fans, or anyone supporting them, this was the most miraculous comeback. It brings comparisons to India's amazing comeback in that test in 2001 against Australia. In that match, Australia had enforced the follow on but then in the 2nd innings VVS Laxman scored 281 as they not only passed the follow on target but set an almost impossible target, and then Australia went for the total, going for what would have been a world record 17th win in a row, and in going for the win they lost the match.
Was this the T20 equivalent of that match? And was Marlon Samuels's innings the equivalent of VVS Laxman's 281 in that match?
It was certainly a thrilling final though. And I think it is fair to say that in their last 2 matches West Indies looked like the best team in the world by an absolute mile. If they can keep that up, or even reference that in other matches that they play, then they could well be a force to reckon with in the years to come.
But to do that they will need to have a more complete test team. Why not try out their T20 stars in the longer format? See if they can handle the big time. And they definitely need to bring Ramnaresh Sarwan back.
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