West Indies make it to the final after beating Australia by 74 runs
Electing to bat first after winning the toss no one thought that West Indies would put up such a huge total on the board after the end of 20 overs. Chris Gayle and J Charles opened the innings although Charles departed early with just 16 runs on board. After that Samuels and Gayle started to hold the innings and they played some amazing shots. In fact there was a time when Gayle had only sixes to his name and no boundaries. It was raining sixes practically and the Aussie bowlers had nowhere to hide as Gayle smashed them all over the park. He scored 75 runs of just 41 balls hitting 6 sixes and 5 boundaries and Samuels too supported him very well. He scored 26 before getting out. Dwayne Bravo was the next batsman in and he too played a great knock in the middle overs supporting Gayle all the way. Pollard was the last batsman that West Indies needed in the end and he along with Gayle provided a perfect finish in the last few overs getting the score up to 205 for the loss of just 4 wickets. None of the bowlers of Australia could maintain a good run rate as they gave away runs in plenty. Starc was the only bowler who picked up 2 wickets but gave away 32 runs.
When Australia came in to bat they had to score over 10 runs per over and that is a pressure which many teams cannot cope up with. They lost Davis Warner in the first over when the scoreboard said 2 runs and that was a massive blow for the Aussies. Mike Hussey too was dismissed early and Australia kept losing wickets constantly and they were 6 wickets down for just 43 runs when the captain, Bailey started to give some hope to the Australian fans. In one over he scored 25 runs and that gave a huge life to the Australian dugout but his innings too was short lived as he tried to hit one over mid wicket and was caught in the deep. He scored 63 of just 29 balls and he could well have taken the match away from West Indies had he stayed for the 20 overs. Once he was gone it was just a formality for the West Indies bowlers to wrap up the tail and they did it quickly. Australia was all out for 131 with 20 balls to spare. The bowlers of West Indies were just superb. Ravi Rampaul picked up 3 wickets and Badree, Narine and Pollard picked 2 wickets each Samuels picked up 1 wicket.