As I wrote in one of my earlier posts that Sunday today was the day of finals - we had two finals at Beijing Open tennis tournament, in which Djokovic and Azarenka were crowned.
In the third final at Colombo, Sri Lanka, the West Indies dismantled hosts Sri Lanka and won the ICC T20I Cricket World Cup, beating the Islanders by 36 runs.
The victory brings the first world cup to the West Indies after a dry spell of some 330 years, while for Sri Lanka, this was the fifth final in which the failed to win the cup.
Although, winning the toss, the West Indies deciding to bat got into a lot of trouble when Chris gayle, whom the Windies were banking and expecting the performance against Australia, was sent packing to pavillion for just three, while Charles was off for a duck. It was Samuels who stood to te field and scored 78 matching winning runs. DJ Bravo (19) and captain Sammy (26) were the other top scorers.
From the Islanders, Mendis was the most deadly bowler who took 4/12. However, Malinga, the most dreaded bowler, could not take a wicket.
When Sri Lankans came to bat, they faced a fierce resistance from the Windies bowlers who restricted their score so tightly that instead of scoring, the wickets started to fall at a rapid pace. And except for Jayawardne (33), Sangakkara (22) and later Kulasekara (26) no other batsmen could score in double digits. S P Narine from the Windies took three valuable wickets for mere 9 runs.
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M N Samuels was declared player of the match for his impressive 78 runs and a wicket for 15. S R Watson from Australia was declared player of the series.
The match today is also the last match of Umpire S J A Taufel who bids farewell to umpiring and is off to his home to rest. His departure will rob the cricket from a very seasoned, professional and upright bold umpire. We wish him best of luck for the future.
There is yet another news that Jayawardne, the Sri Lankan captain for the T20I has announced that he has stepped down from the captaincy of the T20I squad of Sri Lanka.
There is yet another news that Jayawardne, the Sri Lankan captain for the T20I has announced that he has stepped down from the captaincy of the T20I squad of Sri Lanka.
