World Cup 2012 Highlights

source: Getty Images

The World Cup is done and dusted for 2012 and the West Indies have taken home the major prize and their fourth major international title. They are also the fourth different champion the tournament has had since its inception in 2007, which says a lot about the excitement and unpredictability of Twenty20 cricket.

As a way to round off the tournament, we'll take a look back at some of our highlights of the Twenty20 World Cup, both on and off the field (or alternatively have a listen to the podcast, which I assure you is incredibly visual):

• The Super Eight stage was where the tournament really got going, with cricket's heavyweights going head to head on a daily basis.

• Pakistan's great escape against South Africa, while helped them qualify for the semi-finals, while conjuring horrible feelings of deja-vu for South African fans.

• Whether you are an Australian fan or not (or even a Watson fan or not!) you have to be impressed by Shane Watson's tournament. Leading run scorer, second most wickets, he pretty much did it all carrying Australia further than the team's form probably deserved.

• The match winning performances of the spin bowlers, who for most of the tournament kept batsmen under their thumbs.

• When batsmen got off the leash though, they went big:

These are some but not all of the many highlights from this crazy three week festival of cricket, if you feel we have missed any, or have your own, feel free to leave a comment below.

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT

Throughout the tournament we have been awarding votes on a 3-2-1 basis in recognition of outstanding on-field performance. Now that the World Cup has been run and won by the West Indies, we can reveal our Twenty20 MVP!

The most valuable player according to our calculations was Shane Watson of Australia with 12 votes, followed by the Yuvraj Singh from India with 7 votes, with England's Luke Wright and Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene tied for third on 6. The full standings can be found here.

The Tucker Trophy

The trophy was named in honour of
Malcolm Tucker, known for his
displeasure of poor performances.

The Twenty20 World Cup has seen many awards handed out to many deserving winners; the title to the West Indies, Shane Watson was named the player of the tournament and Marlon Samuels collected the award for the best player of the final. But now we come to the award that no one wants to win: The Tucker Trophy.

West Indies win T20 World Cup after defeating Sri Lanka

Source: cricinfo.com   

• West Indies (Samuels 78, Sammy 26*) 6-137 def. Sri Lanka (Jayawardene 33, Kulasekara 26) 10-101

Summary:

In front of a sell-out home crowd of 35,000, the Sri Lankan's were on the verge of etching their own cricket folklore amongst their fans. It was the West Indies who won the toss and elected to bat first. A horror start with the bat, that included a wicket maiden in the opening over, left the West Indies middle order scrambling for whatever runs they could muster.

Opener Johnson Charles was caught for a duck after 5 balls off AD Mathews. Chris Gayle (3) followed shortly after being found out LBW for the first of Mendis' 4 wickets. Mendis also grabbed the wickets of Bravo (19), Pollard (2) and Russell (0). It took the West Indies an astonishing 12.2 overs to reach 50 runs.

It was left up to Samuels (78) and Sammy (26*) to revive the innings and finish with a defensible total of 137.

The Sri Lankan's innings started in similar fashion to the West Indies. Dilshan was gone for a duck and the home nation were 1-6. Jayawardene (33) and Sangakkara (22) steadied the ship after a wobbly start. Once Sangakkara fell the score was 2-48. In a matter of 5 overs they were 7-69 and the collapse had well and truly crippled the Sri Lankan's hopes of snatching victory in front of their home crowd.

Despite staring into the eyes of defeat, they fought on gallantly before being bowled all out for 101.

First world title after 33 years

West Indies 137 for 6 (Samuels 78, Sammy 26*, Mendis 4-12) beat Sri Lanka 101 (Jayawardene
There were celebrations all over the ground, as the West Indies defeated the host nation by 36 runs in a low scoring final.
The Gangnam- style was all over Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo on Sunday night as the cricket team celebrated their ICC World Twenty20 tournament. They won a world cup after 33 years and the start of a new golden chapter for Caribbean cricket.

Final preview: Sri Lanka vs West Indies

Captains Mahela Jayawardene (left) and Darren Sammy (right) with the T20 World Cup trophy.

                                   
After three weeks and 26 matches, featuring twelve the world's best T20 cricket teams, we are down to just two: host nation Sri Lanka and the West Indies, the entertainers of world cricket. But will it be Sri Lanka who shake off their bridesmaids tag to win in front of their home crowd, or will we see Chris Gayle again leading Gangnam-style celebrations for the West Indies? We break down the two teams to try to find out:

Match report: Gayle blows Australia away

Source: cricinfo.com

• West Indies 205/4 (Gayle 75*, Pollard 38) defeated Australia 131 (Bailey 63, Rampaul 3/16)

Summary:

The West Indies' two most damaging players, Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard were at their destructive best as the Windies crushed Australia to advance to the final. Gayle batted through the innings to make 75 off 41 balls, while Pollard finished the work Gayle begun with a whirlwind 15-ball innings of 38. The duo particularly enjoyed the offerings of Australian spinner Xavier Doherty, and helped themselves to 48 runs from his three overs. Facing a mammoth total for victory, Australia was out of the hunt quickly, losing their top order inside the first five overs. Captain George Bailey recorded his highest T20 score of 63, but this merely limited the damage as the West Indian attack ran through the brittle Australian batting order.