ABU DHABI : Super 12s – Defending World Champions bow out of the ICC T20I WC with only one win out of five matches in the Super 12s. Australia with an all round performance beat West Indies by 8 wickets to pick up 2 valuable points. Australia now has one foot on the Semi Finals with South Africa as the only barrier. The South Africa Vs England match to be held later today is the decider match to identify the second semifinalist from Group 1.
With Australia’s improved run rate, South Africa must beat England by at least 57 runs to push Australia out of the Semifinals.
Today’s match was sentimental since it was a farewell to a West Indies legends Gayle and Bravo. The Caribbean style of cricket was always a fan favourite and the two-time men’s T20 World Cup winners did their best to entertain the crowd today too. West Indies posted 157 for 7 wickets with Skipper Pollard paving the way with 44 runs.
Australia chased down the score in 16.2 overs with David Warner sending signals that he is back to being at his best with 89 runs off 56 balls. Mitchell Marsh also supported well with a score of 53 runs before falling to Chris Gayle who was ecstatic to pick a wicket in what could be his last match (1 wicket for 7 runs off 1 over). Gayle entertained with a bat too although it was short lived by scoring 15 runs in 9 balls. Australia scored 161 for 2 wickets in the 16.2 overs to win by 8 wickets.
38-year-old Dwayne Bravo bids goodbye from T20I cricket with 90 matches played where he scored 1245 runs and picked up 78 wickets. He also has taken 44 catches.
Chris Gayle, known as the Universe Boss at 42 years of age has played 78 T20I matches and scored 1884 runs, picked up 19 wickets and has taken 20 catches.
David Warner was named the player of the match for his commanding innings of 89 runs. (RZ)
[Image credit icc-cricket.com]
