Carlos Brathwaite admits miscue in West Indies World Twenty20 heroics
Monday 4 April 2016 15:19, UK
West Indies hero Carlos Brathwaite has revealed he miscued one of the sixes which secured the World Twenty20 trophy on Sunday.
The 27-year-old pummelled four sixes in a row off the bowling of Ben Stokes at the start of the last over in the final to dramatically deny England victory at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
His third six over long off brought the scores level, but he admitted that maximum was really down to good luck as he followed the advice from his batting partner Marlon Samuels to "swing for the hills".
"I miscued the third one, but a 65-metre six and a 94-metre six are still six runs," Brathwaite told ESPN Cricinfo. "I just got it over, kind of spooned it over long-off. And then, I knew the West Indies are world champions, but I didn't want to get too far ahead of myself."
Samuels and Stokes, who have a history of onfield clashes, were involved in verbal exchanges during the final over which led to the West Indies batsman being fined 30 per cent of his match fee.
An unrepentant Samuels taunted Stokes at the post-match press conference by saying the England all-rounder should have been aware that winding him up would only backfire, but that he "doesn't learn".
Brathwaite was more sympathetic on Monday, calling Stokes "an absolute legend in his own right".
"You shouldn't forget what he has done for England in the past couple of months," Brathwaite added. "Cricket is a cruel game, and a lot of people can be on him, but just remember Stuart Broad was hit for six sixes by Yuvraj (Singh), and his career has gone on the up ever since.
"To Ben, tough luck last night, commiserations to you and the England team. I hope he has a long and successful career ahead of him."
Broad himself backed Stokes to learn from the experience, insisting such an event could happen to anyone.
"It's sport, isn't it?" Broad told Sky Sports News HQ. "You're going to have highs and lows, and the reason you do all your training is to try and get more highs and lows.
"Stokesy, three and a half months ago, scored the fastest double century for England and lit up Cape Town. It's just part of that thing, as long as you learn from it.
"There's no point trying to forget about it straight away, you try to learn a little bit of how you've felt and what you'd do differently for hopefully the next time you're in that position.
"It might not come around in a World Cup final again but there'll be times when every bowler will be asked to bowl the last over. Every bowler's going to lose games now and again but you want to come out winning more often than not."
