Australia suffered a second straight loss at the World T20, going down in the final over to the heroics of West Indies captain Darren Sammy.
Needing 12 runs from the final six balls, Sammy failed to make any runs from James Faulkner’s first two deliveries before sending the next two over the boundary for sixes.
Australia now faces a near impossible task to make the World T20 semis and have fallen to last place in their group after an opening loss to Pakistan.
The Aussies posted a total of 178-8, receiving 45 runs (from 22 balls) from Glenn Maxwell and 35 from Brad Hodge.
Usually known for their pace attack, the West Indies spin bowler did all the damage Friday with the trio of Sunil Narine (2-19), Samuel Badree (2-37) and Marlon Samuels (2-20) claiming the first six Australian wickets.
The West Indies went to town on expensive bowlers Mitchell Starc (2-50, four overs) and Doug Bollinger (1-34, four overs) as Chris Gayle produced 53 from 35 deliveries before Sammy and Dwayne Bravo combined for a 45-run partnership to seal the win.
Gayle celebrated Sammy’s winning hits by racing the field with his teammates and dancing Gangnam Style as he did after the Windies 2012 T20 World Cup win.
Aussie debutant James Muirhead claimed the wicket of Gayle, but missed an opportunity to out the star when wicketkeeper Brad Haddin missed an easy stumping opportunity with Gayle on 26.
Faulkner made headlines heading into the match with some controversial comments about Friday’s victors.
“I don’t particularly like them”, Faulkner said on Thursday of the West Indies side. “Nobody in particular. Good players are good players, but you have to do things to get under their skin and try and irritate them to try and get them off their game.”
“Players do that to me and I do it to other players, it’s a fact of the game. A lot of it is played in your mind. If you can do something to upset somebody and upset their team, it goes a long way towards doing well as a group.”
Sammy chose to take the high road when asked about Faulkner’s comments.
“The Australians normally have a lot to say. We are here to play cricket,” he said.
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Photo: Scott Barbour/Getty Images
