It is the 46th over of the second innings at the Trent Bridge, Nottingham, where the Windies are 37 runs away from scripting an emphatic win over the defending champions.
At the crease, Carlos Brathwaite and his skipper Jason Holder are well on course to finish a stumbling chase when the former skies one full toss from Mitchell Starc off the toe end of the bat.
Aussie skipper Aaron Finch makes a reasonable good ground to complete a decisive catch, which also ultimately plotted the Windies’ downfall.
Of some blossoming moments that the Windies have tasted since the previous 50-over World Cup, Brathwaite undeniably forms the fulcrum of a humongous one.
The words from Ian Bishop at the night of 2016 World T20 final still resonates every time he walks out to the middle “Carlos Brathwaite! Remember the name”.
The prophecy of witnessing another supernatural phenomenon like it never fades away.
On Saturday at Old Trafford, when Brathwaite came out to bat, it was more or less an identical situation, except that the Windies needed him to do a lot more than he has usually done in 50-over cricket.
After a whirlwind partnership between Shimron Hetmyer and Chris Gayle, the Windies needed just a couple of decent alliances to get them home. But in a matter of few balls, it all rested on Brathwaite’s mighty shoulders.
The towering man from Barbados had to do the higher version of Michael Bevan today, a man who redefined the ODI batting standards by playing along with the tail-enders and achieving victories out of nowhere. Brathwaite batted as responsibly he could, and he had equally responsible lieutenants alongside him.
His partners weren’t the sort of players who could clear the boundary every chance they got but made sure to hang in there to pull off a heist. However, it is not until the 48th over that the Windies realistically start to believe that the unthinkable is very much conspicuous.
The towering man from Barbados had made Matt Henry a wreck. So much so that from “advantage New Zealand”, they had slipped to a four-person conference after Henry was battered for two maximums off two.
Brathwaite collected another 13 runs from the next three deliveries, backing himself to get eight off the next two overs.
James Neesham, the dibbly-dobbly bowler hadn’t had the most impressive outing as the bowler, but who does Williamson turn to now?
It had to be Neesham, and it had to be something otherworldly and extraordinary to stop this man. Brathwaite gets beaten in two off two.
Neesham bangs it in short for the third consecutive time, and he pulls one to deep midwicket to threaten a jailbreak for the Windies and to prove himself on an individual level beyond the pyrotechnics at the Eden Gardens. It is also the moment where he gets to his maiden century in ODIs.
Carlos Brathwaite (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)
The bowler drops the ball short in the penultimate ball of the over and is stunned yet again. But it goes through without being called a wide which meant that Neesham still has a bouncer up his sleeve.
The next delivery was predictably a bouncer. It wasn’t enough for Boult to do the damage with the ball in his hand that he was much more of an athletic fielder. And that day couldn’t have been a better occasion to show his presence of mind, being an excellent fielder.
When Brathwaite went for the glory shot wide off long-on, Neesham knew from the get-go that a catch was on the cards.
Boult took that decisive catch with somewhat ridiculous ease, with the crusader from the Caribbean down to his knees. The commiserations followed from the Kiwis was as heart-warming as Freddie consoling Binga at the Edgbaston.
It indeed did smoke to oblivion. A stunning moment of eminence when the expectations were tiny, but the stakes were sky high.
Win or lose, Brathwaite will undoubtedly return from Old Trafford as a player who arose from the T20 arena and transitioned himself to a man of substance in the volatile state of WIndies cricket.
The words ” Remember the name” by Ian Bishop will forever reverberate. However, it missed doing it on a more lofty level.
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.
Check out some of the short-arm pull shots from Rocky Flintoff!
Harshal Patel was not a happy man!
David Lord has been remembered as an icon of Australian sports journalism following his death, aged 84. The renowned writer and broadcaster was an…
Sign the man up for a contract next season!
RCB have suffered a massive HEAD-ACHE after Travis Head smashed the fastest century by an SRH player in just 39 balls, as they amassed…
A brutal century by Travis Head has blasted Sunrisers Hyderabad back into the Indian Premier League play-off places in another match for bowlers to…
