Gayle did not reign enough

By Naushad Amit

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Match winner for Australian Shane Watson celebrates the wicket of West Indian dasher Chris Gayle for 54. Pic by Amila Gamage

Australia raced to beat West Indies by 17 runs on the Duckworth/Lewis method to record their second victory at the ICC Twenty20 World Championship 2012 after rain abandoned their Group B game at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo yesterday.
The high-scoring Group B match saw batsmen dominating the day’s happenings as bowlers from both sides in contrast experienced mixed effects. Chasing 192 runs for victory, after West Indies batsmen had provided much of the entertainment, Australia produced a show which was par brilliant to seal an astounding win with 11.5 overs to spare. When rain halted play at 10.02pm at the R. Premadasa Stadium, Australia was 92 runs away from a win but after 45 minutes the match was called off after the rain continued to pour. According to the Duckworth/Lewis method Australia’s target read as 84 runs in the number of overs they faced.

Australia was evidently under pressure when they came out to chase 192 runs for victory as they too, like their group rivals faced the opening over vigilantly. After the first over gave them eight runs on the board, David Warner unleashed his batting prowess to add 22 runs off Ravi Rampaul in the next over inclusive of two fours and two sixes before Fidel Edwards ended his short stint in the following over.

Warner made 28 off 14 balls before going down as the first Australian wicket at 30. Then it was the turn for Shane Watson and Michael Hussey to demonstrate Australia’s cause of competing in the competition. Both of them got together to add 70 runs in exactly seven overs to put Australia at 100 for 1 in 9.1 overs when rain came down and stopped play. They were 17 runs ahead on par under the Duckworth/Lewis method. Watson was unbeaten on 41 off 24 balls with two fours and three sixes as he went on to clinch the man-of-the-match award after claiming two wickets earlier on.

Hussey was not out on 28 off 19 balls with three fours and a six to his tally. West Indies who won the toss, got off to a cautious start and lost opener Dwayne Smith before reaching double figures but Gayle’s epic knock helped them to keep the momentum going. The six-footer enjoyed a fine day with the bat a day after celebrating his 33rd birthday with an entertaining 54 coincidentally of the same number of balls as his age, after surviving a straight dismissal earlier on in his innings. Gayle got a second ‘life’ when Watson dropped him off Mitchell Starc at third man when he was at six in the fourth over, which proved costly in the end. He raced to reach the half century off 26 balls after hitting five boundaries and hoisting four massive sixers off the park. He also hammered 18 runs each off the overs of Pat Cummins and Glenn Maxwell.

Johnson Charles who made 16 off 17 balls was the second West Indies batsman to fall when Australia desperately needed a breakthrough, after sharing 39 runs with Gayle for the second wicket. Marlon Samuels joined Gayle to support him accelerate and both were on song for the next 29 deliveries adding 46 runs for the third wicket.

By this time the almost packed stadium got behind Gayle, who was the first of the batting entertainers of the day, but Watson who bowled 11th over put an end to his knock delivering a hip-high short ball to get him caught and bowled. Samuels then took over the reigns to hit freely and reach his 50 off 31 balls which included three fours and fours sixes but he fell to spinner Brad Hogg a delivery later. By then Samuels had done most of the damage while adding 47 runs for the fourth wicket with Dwayne Bravo off 32 balls.
Bravo too tried to fit into the league of Gayle and Samuels but he was later dismissed for 27 off 21 balls as the Australian bowlers gradually took charge of the taking place. Mitchell Starc who was mercilessly attacked earlier on, bowled a superb second spell to claim 3 for 35 while sitting on a hat-trick in the final over of the innings. Watson claimed the wickets of the bashers Gayle and Kieron Pollard.

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