Best match: England v West Indies, final
The 2016 World Twenty20 did what all good tournaments should and saved its best for last. In fact, whisper it quietly, but the dramatic finale had almost as many plot twists as a half-decent Test match. From the despair of England fans at losing the toss and their first three wickets for 23 runs, to tentative hope restored by Joe Root and Jos Buttler. There was frustration at the loss of regular wickets and a sense of not knowing whether their innings was good enough. Then followed the same emotions for West Indies and they were reversed for England. It finished too in perfect T20 style: an explosion of sixes, ecstasy and despair at the thrill of it all.
Best player: Joe Root, England
Officially, this was Virat Kohli and, yes, he did score far more runs than Root at a stupefying average. Officially, but oddly not recognised, he did not lead his side to within four disastrous balls of winning the tournament, though. Root did. He rescued England time and again with batting as cool as any Englishman who ever played the format. His 44-ball 83 was the centrepiece of England’s 230-run chase against South Africa. He made only an unbeaten 27 against New Zealand but was the man to carry England home when they had a slight wobble. And in the final he nearly took England to a match-winning total with his 54 from 36, again having come in mid-collapse.
Best innings: Lendl Simmons for West Indies v India
Sorry, Virat Kohli but, with all due respect to your astonishing innings against Australia, we knew you could do this. Simmons was not in West Indies' initial squad because of injury and was only called up as a replacement when Andre Fletcher was deemed unfit. He slept for most of his flight over before this, a breathtaking 51-ball 82, featuring seven boundaries and five sixes. West Indies lost their go-to men, Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels, early and still needed 20 from the last two overs. Andre Russell kept his cool to knock them off but it was Simmons' assault that paved the way for him to do so.
Biggest surprise: West Indies Women
They weren't supposed to win this. They weren't even supposed to be here in the final. Australia's Southern Stars have for five years or so now bestrode the sport like a colossus, perhaps not dominating in a way their men's side did in the early 2000s but coming damn close. West Indies, surprise finalists after beating New Zealand, should not have been able to live with Australia, despite the many merits of Hayley Matthews, Deandra Dottin, and the rest of the West Indies side. Certainly not after being set a record 149 to win. Yet they got there relatively comfortably, Matthews and Stefanie Taylor batting out of their skins to kill the contest midway through the chase.
Best delivery: Rashid Khan to Ben Stokes, Afghanistan v England
England have had their fair share of limited-overs embarrassments before, often at the hands of associate nations. However, rarely can they have been made to look so foolish by a 17-year-old kid, who epitomised what looked like being the most humiliating collapse among a litany of humiliating English collapses with this delivery. What looked to be a rank long-hop pitched outside leg turned out to be a sharply turning googly, which Stokes misread entirely; the batsman fell over himself having a mow and was in a comical heap on his backside when the ball clattered into the stumps.
Favourite moment: Afghanistan beat West Indies
Afghanistan had already beaten Zimbabwe in the tournament but this was inarguably their greatest victory, coming as it did against the table toppers. It's fair to say that the associates have not been especially well-served by cricket's governing bodies of late, so this was a heartwarming win. Few would have bet against Carlos Brathwaite getting the 10 needed from the final over, especially after Afghanistan's fast bowler Hamid Hassan had been forced out of the attack. Kudos, then, to Mohammad Nabi for holding his nerve to pick up Brathwaite's wicket while conceding just three runs.
One thing to change
It’s a tired drum to beat but one that needs to keep on being beaten: stop sidelining the associates. Stop patronising them by making them play in a sad preliminary round on bad pitches in empty stadiums and insisting it is part of the proper tournament, when some Test sides hadn’t even arrived in the country. Stop withholding higher-level opposition between tournaments. Stop streamlining the game so fewer of them can appear and make an upset at a major event. Cricket needs all the support it can get right now and keeps shooting itself in the foot.
(Guardian service)
