ESPNcricinfo presents the plays of the day from the second semi-final in Colombo
Andrew Fernando in Colombo05-Oct-2012Knockout of the day
George Bailey had led a mini-resistance alongside Pat Cummins, and thanks to their 68-run partnership from 36 balls, Australia had cause to hope again. Kieron Pollard and Bailey had stared each other down even before the over began, and though Bailey hit four from the first ball, Pollard dismissed both him and Cummins from the second and third balls of the over to effectively seal the result and send West Indies to the final.Celebration of the day
Gayle’s Gangnam Style dance has been a theme of West Indies campaign, and over the three weeks, his teammates, and even the West Indies Women have imitated him in their wicket celebrations. West Indies took it to a new level after completing their semi final victory, when the entire team met mid-pitch and performed the dance, lasso move and all, while the DJ blasted the K-Pop phenomenon. It is rumoured the team hope to have large amounts of trash blasted at them if they win the final on Sunday.Dismissal of the day
When David Warner under-edged the last ball of the first over and the stumps were broken, even the bowler Samuel Badree seemed uncertain of what had happened. Initially it looked like wicketkeeper Dinesh Ramdin was appealing for a stumping, but replays showed Warner remained well in his crease. Eventually it dawned that the ball had dislodged the bails on the way to the wicketkeeper, and what is usually the most obvious and comprehensive dismissal in the game required a ruling from the third umpire.Shacklebreaker of the day
Chris Gayle appeared to be playing the same sort of frustrating innings Tillakaratne Dilshan had played in the first semi final when he had managed only 4 from nine balls. He finally connected with the last ball of the sixth over and the colossal strike over long off from Shane Watson lurched Gayle’s innings into top gear. It was the first of 14 sixes Australia suffered in the innings.Fielding of the day
Usually it’s batsmen who face chin music, but fast bowler Mitchell Starc got a little bit of his own medicine when Chris Gayle swatted one flat and fast to cow corner. Starc came in hoping to catch the ball on the full, but the ball bounced well short of him and the best he could do was stop it with his face.Relaxed running of the day
Coaches will tell young players to always run the first one hard, and then look to take a second, but Kieron Pollard and Chris Gayle did exactly the opposite in the sixteenth over, when they took two runs off Pat Cummins. Having hit the ball softly into a wide open space on the leg side, the pair sauntered casually for the first, before looking up and realising the fielders were still nowhere close to the ball. Almost reluctantly, Gayle realised they should probably take two, and began sprinting back down the pitch, and Pollard followed suit.
