The West Indies have clinched their T20 International series against Australia, racing to an unassailable 3-0 lead with a dominant six-wicket win in St Lucia on Monday.
Chris Gayle produced his best knock since his return to the international side, with 67 from 38 balls as the West Indies cruised in the chase, winning with 31 balls to spare.
Stand-in captain Nicholas Pooran (32* from 27 balls) finished the job with back-to-back boundaries off Riley Meredith (48-3) to seal the series victory with two games to play.
Australia captain Aaron Finch won the toss and elected to bat first this time, with his batsmen failing to capitalise on several starts, only managing 141-6.
Moises Henriques top scored with 33, hitting Australia's only two sixes, with Hayden Walsh restricting them with 18-2 from four overs.
The improved Mitchell Starc (18-1 from four) dismissed Andre Fletcher early, bringing Gayle to the crease and the 41-year-old was at his best.
Gayle hit several lusty blows, including seven sixes and four fours in his knock, before edging to wicketkeeper Matthew Wade off Meredith.
RETURN TO FORM FOR GAYLE?
Gayle has made it clear that his return to the West Indies, after two years away, has been inspired by competing at the T20 World Cup later this year.
Despite strong Indian Premier League form, he has struggled upon his return to the international arena, managing only 102 runs in nine innings.
The veteran left-hander made his first T20 International half-century since 2016 with his knock at first drop on Monday.
"From a personal point of view, you all knew I was struggling with the bat, but to be get some runs today it's very pleasing," Gayle said. "I want to dedicate these runs to my teammates, especially Kieron Pollard. He gave me the pep talk I needed."
Gayle made 288 runs in seven innings at an average of 41.14 in the 2020 IPL, before scoring 178 runs in eight knocks in the 2021 edition.
"Looking back, when I got back into the West Indies team against Sri Lanka, I was trying to play a different role, than play Chris Gayle himself," Gayle said. "I didn’t get the runs but the guys rallied around me. It's coming on, my main focus is the World Cup."
AUSSIES T20I WOES CONTINUE
Australia continue to struggle in the shortest format, having been comfortably beaten in all three matches in the series.
Finch, who made 30 from 31 deliveries at the top of the order, felt there was a clear theme to address among the losses.
"Same as the other games, we haven’t had the top order go on deep into the innings," Finch said. "It's been quite similar the whole way through. Credit to the West Indies, they bowled beautifully, especially at the back end."
Australia have only managed scores of 127, 140 and 141-6 in the three T20Is this series, bowled out on both occasions when they have chased.
"We would’ve liked more runs, no doubt," Finch added. "That comes down to the top order not going through. If one of your top four is there through the end you put pressure on the bowlers."
New champions Guyana Amazon Warriors have five named in CPL Team of the Tournament
The Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) Team of the Tournament has been announced. The team has been selected by the TV commentary panel; Ian Bishop, Daren Ganga, Samuel Badree, Carlos Brathwaite, Danny Morrison and Nikhil Uttamchandani.
The team includes five members of the Guyana Amazon Warriors who won their first title on Sunday with a nine-wicket win over the Trinbago Knight Riders at Providence.
The five Amazon Warriors are Captain Imran Tahir, batsmen Shai Hope and Saim Ayub and all rounders Dwayne Pretorius and Romario Shepherd.
Tahir was instrumental in leading the Amazon Warriors to their maiden CPL title with 18 wickets in 13 matches, only finishing behind teammate Pretorius’ 20 wickets on the leading wicket-taker chart.
Hope and Ayub finished first and second in the leading run-scorer list with 481 and 478 runs, respectively.
The full team is as follows:
Saim Ayub (Guyana Amazon Warriors)
Brandon King (Jamaica Tallawahs)
Shai Hope (Guyana Amazon Warriors)
Nicholas Pooran (Trinbago Knight Riders)
Kieron Pollard (Trinbago Knight Riders)
Imad Wasim (Jamaica Tallawahs)
Romario Shepherd (Guyana Amazon Warriors)
Jason Holder (Barbados Royals)
Alzarri Joseph (Saint Lucia Kings)
Dwaine Pretorius (Guyana Amazon Warriors)
Imran Tahir (Guyana Amazon Warriors)
Pete Russell, Republic Bank CPL’s CEO, said: “It has been another fantastic year of CPL cricket, and we would like to thank the players, franchise staff, fans in the ground and viewers around the world for supporting our tournament again this year. We would like to offer our congratulations to the players who have been selected for the Team of the Tournament who have made this another memorable year.”
CWI vice-president Azim Bassarath and player-turned-commentator Samuel Badree awarded T&T's prestigious Hummingbird medals
For their many years of exemplary service to the sport of cricket in Trinidad and Tobago, cricket administrator Azim Bassarath and former player Samuel Badree received the Hummingbird Medal Gold at the twin-island republic’s National Awards Ceremony held on Sunday at President’s House.
The Hummingbird Medal may be awarded to any person (citizen as well as non-citizen) who has rendered loyal and devoted service beneficial to Trinidad and Tobago in any field of human endeavour or for gallantry or other humane action.
It may be awarded in Gold, Silver or Bronze in accordance with the assessed level of the service rendered.
Bassarath, the President of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board and Vice President of Cricket West Indies was recognized for his work as a cricket administrator. When he became CWI Vice President in March this year, Bassarath became the first administrator from the country to serve in that role.
Under his watch, Trinidad and Tobago has produced some of that country’s finest cricketers including Kieron Pollard and Badree, who was honoured for his work in sport and education.
Badree, who is also now a commentator, was a member of West Indies' T20 World Cup winning teams in 2012 and 2016. The 42-year-old former leg spinner has also been an educator for over two decades and is the chairman of Badree’s Academy of Sport Education.
Badree has also served as an administrator and is a former secretary of the south zone cricket council of the TTCB.
CWI CEO Grave outlines next steps after host countries announced for next year’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup
In June next year, the West Indies, along with the USA, will host their third senior men’s ICC tournament when the cricket world descends upon our region for the ninth edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
The West Indies previously hosted the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in 2007 as well as the second edition of the T20 World Cup two years later.
Last week, Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad & Tobago were announced as the seven Caribbean countries that will host matches along with New York, Texas and Florida in the USA.
CEO of Cricket West Indies, Johnny Grave, described the confirmation of the region as hosts as a “big landmark” in a CWI interview last week and is looking forward to inviting the rest of the world to the Caribbean.
“It’s a big landmark for us at Cricket West Indies (CWI) and the ICC because, having this confirmation now that seven of our host countries have made successful bids to host matches means that a lot of the work and detailed planning that we need to do in order to make the most of this huge opportunity to host out third men’s ICC tournament in the West Indies, and this time in partnership with our friends at USA cricket, can start,” he said.
He also went into what are the next steps in preparing for next year’s festivities.
“The next big step is to get the match schedule agreed with the ICC. We’ve got the ten hist venues. The next stage is to work through the detailed match schedule. This is the first World Cup ever to have 20 teams so it’s a big tournament to organize and there’s a small window from early June to the 30th of June when the final will take place to get all the matches in. We’ve got group stages after the warm-up games. We’ve then got the super eights stage then semi-finals and final so, once that schedule is agreed, then it’s all systems go in terms of tickets being on sale around December to coincide with us welcoming England to the region,” Grave said.
“It’s really important that we get the match schedules announced so that we can invite the world to come to the Caribbean next year,” he added.
Grave also expressed gratitude to the various Governments who put forward successful bids to host matches.
“We’re enormously grateful for the continued support we get from the Governments of the West Indies,” he said.
“All of them that put forward bids have been successful in securing matches which is great news. We’re really looking forward to some of the improvements that those Governments have put forward in their proposals to us and the ICC in terms of ensuring that they are ready for what is the pinnacle of the men’s game currently. It’s a huge opportunity for the region to use the platform of hundreds of millions of fans watching our beautiful countries and our iconic venues and we want everyone in the world to come to the Caribbean and experience what we have to offer,” he added.
While encouraging people from all over the world to make the trip, Grave also urged local fans to come out and support the regional side in their bid for a third World T20 title.
“Absolutely. We’ve seen that unique kind of atmosphere when we hosted the 2018 Women’s World T20 with big crowds in St. Lucia and Antigua when the West Indies played and I’m sure when the West Indies play next June there’ll be big crowds at all the venues,” he said.
“We want every host country to show what a welcoming and exciting place this is to watch and play cricket and it’s really important that the fans come out in their masses. The school children will be invited as part of our community engagement program so that we can show what kind of an atmosphere it is to the world,” Grave added.
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