ICC World Twenty20 Top Performers and Performances

Twenty20 cricket is a very new form of cricket, invented about 11 years. In T20 cricket, there is a maximum of twenty overs allowed and only one inning is played. The 2012 ICC World T20 is the fourth T20 World Cup and first to be held in Sri Lanka. The first T20 World Cup was in 2007, in South Africa. India defeated Pakistan to win the first ever title. The next cup was held  in 2009 in England.  Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka to win the championship. One year later, England beat Australia in the finals to win their first title. Here is our report on the top performers and performances of 2012 ICC World T20.

Shane Watson
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Shane Watson of Australia was named the Player of the Tournament. The all-rounder was the leader of the tournament in runs with 249 and had an average of 49.80 runs per match.  He was second in sixes with fifteen and tied for fifth in fours with nineteen. He also had three fifties, which tied him for first. While bowling he was second in wickets with eleven. Watson led Australia all the way to the semi-finals, where they lost to the West Indies. When Australia faced South Africa in the Super Eights, Watson had 70 runs, eight fours, and two sixes. He also had two wickets. When India went head-to-head with Australia also in the Super Eights, Watson had 72 runs, two fours, seven sixes, with 3 wickets. 

One of the more notable performances came from New Zealand's Brendon McCullum against Bangladesh in Group Play. McCullum got the only century of the tournament by scorng a total of 123 runs. He had sevens sixes and eleven fours. 

Sri Lanka's Ajantha Mendis was a top bowler in the tournament. In the first game of the tournament, Mendis had an outstanding performance. He had an economy rate of 2.00, which  tied for tournament best with eight runs given up in four overs, six wickets, a 4.00 strike rate, and twenty DOTS. Two of the four overs were maiden overs. Mendis led the tournament in wickets with fifteen, maidens with three, and DOT balls with 69.  He was also tied for first for most four wickets and most five wickets.

The finals of the World T20 was between the West Indies and the host Sri Lanka. Both had different trips to the finals. The West Indies were in Group B with Australia and Ireland. They lost to Australia and their match vs. Ireland was a no result do to rain. The West Indies were tied with Ireland, but made it to the next round based on having a better run rate. Sri Lanka was in Group C with South Africa and Zimbabwe. They lost to South Africa and beat Zimbabwe to make it through. Both were in Group 1 for the Super Eights. Sri Lanka won every match. The West Indies went 2-1 to make it to the semis. In the semi-finals, Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by 16 runs and West Indies eliminated Australia in a blowout, winning by 74 runs. The West Indies was led by Chris Gayle.  Sri Lanka was led by Mendis and team captain Mahela Jayawardene.

Members of the West Indies Cricket Team celebrating
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In the finals, the West Indies batted first. They started off slow. There first two batters, Johnson Charles and Gayle, only scored three runs off twenty-one balls. Then came Marlon Samuels, who was on fire. Samuels scored 78 runs in 56 balls. When the West Indies got to twenty overs, their score was 137/6. For Sri Lanka, Jayawardene scored 33 runs, Kumar Sangakkara knocked in 22, and Nuwan Kulasekara scored 26 runs. However, the rest of the team couldn't score more then five runs a piece and only one player got more then ten balls thrown to them. When Sri Lanka ran out of batters, they scored 101 runs over 18.4 overs. The West Indies got the victory by 36 runs.