Nineteen. Could anyone make nineteen runs in the final over of the game? The final game? Surely not. West Indies would lose tonight.

Three sixes should do it, said one viewer. Impossible, countered another. Can’t do it, no… really, a third watcher was sure. He prepared to watch England, his least favourite team, win.

England’s Ben Stokes came running in and bowled. Carlos Brathwaite, the tall Barbadian, bowler for West Indies with a bat in his hands on that anxious wicket in that instant between win and lose, swung.

Six.

The crowd roared. Stokes looked taken aback but he came back quickly for the next ball.

Brathwaite hit hard again, swinging his bat.

Six.

Everyone was sitting up now. Or standing and jumping. In slomo television, the drama was held onto and sent shivers. Stokes looked distraught. No one could believe what was happening. Could the inevitable be thrown right out of the field and the impossible happen?

One more ball.

One more six.

England and West Indies were now level. Gaping viewers were beginning to realise… it was done. Three sixes had come from three balls, the first three of the last over. The unbelievable had taken place. Only one run to be made to win. Three balls to go still.

Brathwaite could have hit any way he liked… just one run needed.

The destroyed English bowler came in and the ball flew.

A bat reared up. And swung.

Six again.

Not needed, but this one was simply because he could, we suppose. Because why stop at just winning by numbers? Win with the game, the attitude, the player’s desire to play. That’s a real player on the pitch said something… and what a fantastic win.

We wondered what words were going through the batsman’s mind as he faced the balls that would surely spell his team’s defeat. He, the final bringer of that ignominy. We’d love to know what he said to himself so he could lift that bat and swing it, and not just once. For those were precious words.

A fabulous Unblock moment. Thank you, West Indies, for showing us what can’t be done, really can. Nineteen from six? Take twenty-four.

 

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