Gayle storm blows Aussies away

Windies reach their first World Twenty20 final after massive win.
Sammy elected to bat and once again Johnson Charles deprived Gayle of the strike, before perishing to an edge off Starc that was taken by the 'keeper. Gaye had faced just 14 balls in the first nine overs, and it was Samuels who struck the first blows, carting sixes off Brad Hogg and Doherty and driving Cummins for four. Samuels was castled by a Cummins slower ball, allowing Dwayne Bravo to take over.

Meanwhile, Australia was starting to wilt under the attack. Wade let slip a full toss to concede four byes and Starc's wide swinging delivery went running down the leg side for  five wides. The gears shifted ominously in the 15th when David Hussey came on. Gayle struck a six and two fours as 19 were taken. Bravo was out after adding 83 in 51 balls with Gayle.

Gayle, who appeared to be troubled by an abdominal spasm, then got into his own. He reached his fifty in 29 balls as the Windies gained 150 in the 17th over, and he and Pollard struck regular boundaries against Watson and Cummins to keep the board ticking. But it was in the final over that the match appeared to slip irrevocably from the Aussies. Doherty came on, was greeted by Gayle with a six, and then brutalised for three more hits over the fence by Pollard, as 25 came from the last six balls. For Australia, whose Starc and Cummins had kept it tight at the start, the 73 runs leaked in the last five overs of the West Indian innings cost them dear.