Needing 19 off the last over, Brathwaite blasted four successive sixes in the first four balls to leave Stokes down on his haunches with his head in his hands.
Advertisement
Making West Indies totter at 11 for three while defending their total of 155, England saw a neat rearguard action from Marlon Samuels who stroked an unbeaten 85 before Brathwaite took the match away with his 34-run blitz.
It was a double delight for West Indies fans as their women’s team pulled off a surprise eight-wicket victory over Australia in the final played earlier.
“Hopefully this is like the injection they can get into their shorter form, as in 50-over competitions and Test match cricket as well”. “I thought we were awful”.
Asked how is Stokes coping with the disappointment, Morgan said: “It’s quite simple from my point of view”. Today was about letting ourselves go and play with the freedom.
“In every game, somebody stepped up and took responsibility and to see Carlos play like that in his debut World Twenty20 is just tremendous”, he said.
He added: “Mark Nicholas (the English commentator and former Hampshire captain) described us as a team with no brains”.
In the post-match press conference at the Eden Gardens last night, Sammy, in a reference to the lengthy and bitter pay dispute that had put their World T20 participation in doubt, said his team felt “disrespected by our board”. Sammy deserves huge accolades for the way he made his team focus on the job and motivated them, even when the cricket administrators cared little. All the other coaching staff, who have done their part. The World Cup in Australia was brilliant, the Ashes a great spectacle, we had 81,000 at a Big Bash game in Melbourne, the Asia Cup was good entertainment and England produced a fantastic win in South Africa.
“We’re all in this together as we have been from the start”.
Advertisement
“I just want say a special mention to everyone in Sergeant’s Village, my family, my friends and especially to Mr Erroll Edie, the master bat-maker from the Caribbean”. Windies were the only team to win the cup twice in this format of the game. We had no uniforms, no printing.
