West Indies - ICC World T20 Winners 1 Year On

Gangnam Celebrations For The West Indies

Written on 08/10/12

There is a huge sense of joy for West Indies amongst the cricketing circles as they have been in the doldrums for a while. This triumph could see the spark of a revival in West Indies cricket and the world game will be all the better for it. They have a reputation to pride on and build on with their invincible test side of the 70s and 80s. With all the turmoil, disputes and internal problems they have faced it’s pleasing from a neutral perspective to see them smiling, dancing, singing aloud and enjoying each other’s company.

Darren Sammy has taken plenty of stick with his bits and pieces cricketer tag, questions regarding his place and usefulness in the side, but even after triumphing as a world cup winning captain, he doesn’t take it out on anyone. We could certainly do with more characters like him. As a leader he is tactically astute, knows how to get the best out of his players, keeps the side together and is now letting the results do the talking.

Marlon Samuels played a brilliant hand yesterday night in Colombo. West Indies got off to a shaky start, but he absorbed pressure, counterattacked, backed himself & took one of the finest fast bowlers in this format to the cleaners. He is one of the most watchable and versatile players in the world game and was instrumental last night and throughout the tournament & that’s evident with him being named in the side of the tournament today for his consistent contributions.

Your 2012 WT20 Playing XI?

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World T20 2012

Mine is

1) Chris Gayle

2) Shane Watson

3) Mahela Jayawardene (C)

4) Kumar Sangakkara (WK)

5) Marlon Samuels

6) Luke Wright

7) Yuvraj Singh

8) Lasith Malinga

9) Saeed Ajmal

10) Ajantha Mendis

11) Mitchell Strac

Notable omissions: Brendon McCullum, Kohli, Narine, Finn

West Indies on the rise

ICC emerging player of the year 2011 was a West Indian

ICC emerging player of the year 2012 was a West Indian

IPL 2012 player of the tournament was a West Indian

They have comprehensively defeated New Zealand in all forms of the game at home (8-1)

They drew an ODI and T20 series at home against Australia

During the year they had a batsmen number 1 on the test rankings at Chanderpaul

They indisputably have the best Twenty20 player in the world aka Crystal Gayle

Asian Cricket Looking Healthy

Sri Lanka have featured in 4 WC finals in the last 5.5 years

Pakistan is the highest ranked Asian test side & Asia Cup winners

India are holders of the ODI WC and U-19 WC

Stats

In both the 2009 and 2012 T20 final the score was 0-1 after the first 5 balls, 4 dots followed by a wicket

In both the 2007 and 2012 T20 WC the first delivery of the tournament went to the fence for 4

Both of the previous 2 winners of the T20 WC have won it after hosting the previous one

In 2009 and 2012 the winner of the final lost the super eight game against the same opposition

West Indies only won 3 of their 7 matches in conventional style, including the semi final and final