Mahatma Gandhi once said that a nation's culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people and the West Indies women underlined that, with an amazing performance to land the 2016 ICC World T20 title, at the expense of three-time defending champions Australia yesterday and bagging US$100,000 in the process.
The West Indies playing cricket in the true carefree style epitomising Caribbean culture, chased down Australia's 148/5 and got home with eight wickets to spare in front of about 4,000 Indian fans who were cheering them along at the Eden Garden Cricket Stadium in Kolkata.
Having never beaten the Australians in a T20 match before, the West Indies came into the match with fire in their hearts and it showed in the attitude of opener Hayley Matthews who just came out guns blazing, to hit 66 that took Australia by surprise.
She and captain Stafanie Taylor posted an impressive 120-run opening stand that more or less ended the Aussies interest in the contest.
The 18-year old Matthews became the youngest player to hit a 50 in the T20 World Cup finals, which she brought up from 35 balls with four fours and three sixes. When she finally fell, as the heat got the better of her, she tallied 66 of 45 balls with six fours and three sixes.
Taylor used her tremendous experience to guide her team home and counted 59 of 57 balls with six fours.
Earlier, Australia won the toss and started off brightly with the bat.
They were not afraid to put bat on ball and while the pitch was not quick, the hardness of the new ball allowed them to play through the line and they got value for shots on a fast outfield.
Alyssa Healy left early but Elyse Villiani looked in top notch. The tall right hand batter hardly played a wrong shot and was able to reach the boundary on many occasions.
She and skipper Meg Lanning took the game away from the West Indies as their bowlers melted under the Kolkata heat.
They added 77 runs for the second wicket with Villiani getting 52 of 37 balls with nine fours. Lanning would also follow with a half century, taking just 49 balls and hitting eight fours.
Towards the end Ellyse Perry hammered the bowling for 28 of 23 balls including two sixes on the big Eden outfield.
The score could have been much better for Australia but for a brilliant 20th over by Deandra Dottin who grabbed a wicket and conceded just one run.
SCOREBOARD
n WI vs Aus: Aus inns
A Healy c & b Matthews 4
E Villiani c Taylor b Dottin 52
M Lanning lbw Mohammed 52
E Perry b Dottin 28
A Blackwell not out 3
E Osbourne run out 0
J Jonassen not out 0
Extras 4b, 2lb, 3w 9
Total for 5 wkts (20ovs) 148
Fall of wkts: 15, 92, 134, 147, 147.
Bowling: S Connell 2-0-15-0, H Matthews 2-0-13-1, S Taylor 3-0-26-0, D Dottin 4-0-33-2, A Fletcher 1-0-9-0, A Mohammed 4-0-19-1, S Quintyne 4-0-27-0.
n WI inns
H Matthews c Blackwell b Beams 66
S Taylor c sub b Farrell 59
D Dottin not out 18
B Cooper not out 3
Extras 2lb, 1w 3
Total for 2 wkts (19.3) 149
Fall of wkts: 120, 144.
Bowling: J Jonassen 4-0-26-0, E Perry 3.3-0-27-0, M Schutt 3-0-26-0, F Farrell 4-0-35-1,
K Beams 4-0-27-1,
E Osborne 1-0-6-0.
Player of the match:
Hayley Matthews.
Player of the tournament: Stafanie Taylor.