WI won T20 WC finals ; the first PM of Ceylon...

It was the finals of T20 …. West Indies led by Darren Sammy won the toss and elected to bat….. it was not to be the flurry of sixers as WI crumbled against Lankan mystery spin. Gayle failed, so did Pollard – but the man possessed Marlon Samuels took on the best of Lankan Bowler the Slinga Malinga in a fashion that none has done so far.  Gayle struggled throughout the innings and his agony finally brought to an end at 5.5 by Ajanta Mendis – he made a painful 3 off 16 balls, surviving a couple of close calls. After halfway, West Indies had made a paltry 32 for 2 off 10 – the finals perhaps would be a record in ‘dot balls’…….. yes 54 in a legal 120 ball match – Sri Lanka did 51.  In the power play when field restrictions are in place,  West Indies scored only 14, which is the lowest for West Indies, and the lowest for any team against Sri Lanka.

One man made all the difference - Marlon Nathaniel Samuels; the runs he scored – 78 was his highest in T20 and also the highest by any batsman in the final of a World Twenty20.  Thanks to his assault, WI in the  last nine overs scored 99, which is their fifth-highest in Twenty20 internationals. Lasith Malinga went for 54 in his four overs, which is the most runs he has conceded in a Twenty20 international innings; it's also his worst economy rate in an innings in which he has bowled four overs. Malinga was hit for five sixes in the innings, all of them by Samuels.  In the end Pollard, Gayle, Russel,Sammy,  Bravos, Charles and more were dancing in the outfield – it was all  gangnam.  Sunil Naraine had unbelievable figtures of 3.4-0-9-3 ensuring that WI celebrated on Bravo’s birthday.

Post match as Windies partied all night, came the news of Mahela resigning.  It was the finals of 2012 ICC World Twenty 20 – the 4th ICC T20 competition that took place in Sri Lanka in Oct 2012.  In the end WI won by 36 runs in a low scoring match.  As news of celebrations was flashed wide, there was this photo of WI in team jersies holding the WC posing in front of a monument – one built based on the Magul Maduwa (Celebration Hall), the Royal audience hall of the Kingdom of Kandy.

Understand that this is the ‘Independence Memorial Hall’, a national monument in Sri Lanka built for commemoration of the independence of Sri Lanka from the British rule with the establishment of Dominion of Ceylon on February 4, 1948. It is located at the Independence Square (formally Torrington Square) in the Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo. The monument was built at the location where the formal ceremony marking the start of self-rule, with the opening of the first parliament by the HRH Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester occurred at a special podium February 4, 1948.

One can see a statue behind the WI team…. It is the statue of the first prime minister of Ceylon -  Rt. Hon. Don Stephen Senanayake ".

Don Stephen Senanayake (1884-1952) was an independence activist who served as the first Prime Minister of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) from 1947 to 1952. The three Senanayake brothers - Don Charles, Fredrick Richard and D.S. - were all heavily involved in politics. D.S. and D.C. were prominent members of the Lanka Mahajana Sabha

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

4^th Dec 2013.