World Cup T20: West Indies beat Australia by six wickets

Darren Sammy of the West Indies is congratulated by his teammates after hitting the winning runs as James Muirhead of Australia looks on during the ICC World Twenty20 Bangladesh 2014 match between Australia and the West Indies at Sher-e-Bangla Mirpur Stadium on March 28, 2014 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Mirpur (Bangladesh), March 28 (IANS/CMC) The West Indies defeated Australia by six wickets in their Group 2 match of the ICC World Twenty20 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium here on Friday.

Pursuing Australia’s challenging total of 178/2, the defending champions chased down the target with two balls to spare.

Captain Darren Sammy was named the Man-of-the-Match.

With the West Indies requiring 12 from the last over in pursuit of 179 for victory, Sammy twice cleared the ropes with seamer James Faulkner off the third and fourth balls, to deliver a sensational win for the defending champions with two balls to spare.

Sammy, who faced just 13 balls and counted two fours and three sixes, had set the stage for his heroics in the penultimate over when he launched a ferocious assault on left-armer Mitchell Starc in an over that cost 19 runs.

Sammy put on an invaluable 49 runs off 21 balls with one-day captain Dwayne Bravo, whose unbeaten 27 came from 12 deliveries.

Opener Chris Gayle got them going with a top score of 53 off 35 balls while Lendl Simmons chipped in with 26.

Earlier, the Windies produced a measured performance to hold the Aussies to 178/8 off their 20 overs after they had been asked to field first. The spinners did the job for the Windies as offies Sunil Narine (2/19) and Marlon Samuels (2/20) and leg-spinner Samuel Badree (2/37) all picked up two wickets apiece.

Glenn Maxwell top scored with 45 from 22 balls while Brad Hodge got 35 off 26 deliveries but no other Aussie batsman really got going.

Brief scores: Australia 178/8 in 20 overs (Glenn Maxwell 45, Brad Hodge 35, David Warner 20; Sunil Narine 2/19, Marlon Samuels 2/20, Samuel Badree 2/37) lost to West Indies 179/4 in 19.4 overs (Chris Gayle 53, Darren Sammy 34 not out, Dwayne Bravo 27 not out; Mitchell Starc 2/50).