All Time Great Championship: Could Have Been T20 Heroes

[Wilted]

ATG Championship Final
West Indies XI: G Greenidge, G Headley, V Richards, B Lara, C Lloyd, G Sobers*, C Walcott+, M Marshall, A Roberts, J Garner, C Ambrose
New Zealand XI: J Wright, G Turner, A Jones, M Crowe*, C Harris, R Hadlee, B Congdon, I Smith+, L Cairns, E Chatfield, J Saunders
New Zealand won the toss and elected to bowl.

West Indies
In the two games that the West Indies and New Zealand played against each other in the group stage, each of them won one match apiece setting this final up to be one of the best games of the tournament. Hadlee found the edge of Greenidge with the first ball of the tournament but it was just wide of first slip and ran away for 4. The missed chance didn't cause any lasting damage since Chatfield managed to pick up both openers in his first over bowled. The bulk of the West Indies' batting attack, Richards and Lara, also fell cheaply and New Zealand were off to a perfect start after five overs. The West Indies had been terrorising batsmen all tournament and now were at the receiving end of a devastating pace attack. The collapse continued until Walcott and Marshall put on a small resistance, which almost pushed the West Indies over to 100 runs. Chatfield returned to the attack toppled the remaining tail and picked up a 5fa in the process.

West Indies 94

New Zealand
After a shock first innings batting failure, the West Indies would need their best bowling performance of the tournament to pull off a win. Two quick wickets from Garner and tight lines from Roberts kept the West Indies in the mix for a few overs. Once Sobers chipped in with the third wicket of the chase, it was clear the Kiwis would have to fight for their win. Runs were not easy to come and if DLS par was anything to go by, the West Indies were even in front after eight overs. A cool-headed Crowe kept his wicket safe and scored a few vital boundaries to make sure that New Zealand were quickly back in front. They needed 44 runs off the final ten overs. The only problem was being five wickets down and once Crowe was dismissed by Marshall, New Zealand had little left in reserve. Smith hit a few boundaries to bring the chase down to five runs needed in the last over. However, the West Indies were also just one wicket away from victory. Roberts bowled to Smith who went for a quick single but a panicked mixup produced a run out, giving the West Indies a memorable four-run victory.

West Indies 94
C Walcott 25, M Marshall 18
E Chatfield 5-14, C Harris 2-15

New Zealand 90
C Ambrose 3-14, J Garner 3-27
M Crowe 23, I Smith 18

West Indies won by 4 runs
E Chatfield was awarded Man of the Match.

West Indies are ATG T20 Champions!

[Wilted]

Player of the Tournament, Team of the Tournament and Stats, Stats and More Stats
The tournament was dominated by the bowlers, especially the quicks so it was only fitting that the team with the fiercest pace attack took out the title. Their bowling attack was at its peak when the Caribbean quicks when they defended a meagre total of 94 runs in the final. In the end, there was no doubt they had earned the right to be called ATG Champions.

Wickets were well-shared around this tournament with a few bowlers taking 30+ wickets and 20 bowlers taking 20+ wickets. Runs on the other hand were much harder to amass. One batsman scored over 650 runs, almost 150 runs more than the second-best, five 50s when no one else scored more than three and was the only one to raise their bat for a century for the entire tournament. Mark Waugh was awarded Player of the Tournament.

While Mark Waugh stood out as the best batsman of the tournament, he was not the only player to consistently pull off top-shelf performances. From explosive hitting to clutch bowling, the following players were named in the ATG T20 Championship XI:

ATG T20 Championship XI

M Waugh - 677 runs @67.70, 5x50s and 1x100, best 129.
A Stewart (wk) - 333 runs @33.30, 3x50s, best 82
D Lehmann - 531 runs @53.10, 3x50s, best 69
F Woolley - 461 runs @38.42, 3x50s, best 80
Z Abbas - 487 runs @34.79, 2x50s, best 73
C Harris - 342 runs @31.09, 2x50s, best 93 // 14 wickets @25.43, best 3-0
A Faulkner - 248 runs @20.67, 1x50, best 52 // 22 wickets @15.09, 2x4WI, best 4-17
W Akram - 25 wickets @14.68, 2x4WI, best 5-23
C Ambrose - 36 wickets @9.25, 3x4WI, best 5-7
J Garner - 33 wickets @10.42, 3x4WI, best 4-24
E Chatfield - 32 wickets @13.13, 2x4WI, best 5-14

12th Man - K Dev

Batting Stats

Top 10 Run Scorers

Player	Runs	Average
M Waugh	677	67.70
D Lehmann	531	53.10
Z Abbas	487	34.79
F Woolley	461	38.42
V Richards	417	29.79
D Bradman	382	47.75
G Headley	378	23.63
M Crowe	376	37.60
S Anwar	356	27.38
J Wright	354	29.50

Next 10

Player	Runs	Average
C Harris	342	31.09
A Stewart	333	33.30
A Jadeja	330	25.38
M Azharuddin	316	22.57
J Miandan	304	25.33
W Grace	303	25.25
G Hick	296	21.14
B Sutcliffe	291	26.45
B Congdon	280	28.00
B Lara	278	27.80

Highest Scores (one entry per batsman)

Player	Highest Score
M Waugh	129
C Harris	93
A Stewart	82
F Woolley	80
J Rhodes	80
G Pollock	74
Z Abbas	73
G Headley	73
W Grace	72
L Klusener	72

Most Boundaries

Player	4s	6s	Boundaries
M Waugh	80	13	93
D Lehmann	65	11	76
F Woolley	59	10	69
Z Abbas	56	12	68
C Harris	44	12	56
V Richards	43	12	55
M Crowe	47	7	54
J Wright	42	10	52
S Anwar	46	6	52
G Headley	41	10	51

Miscellaneous (min 100 runs)

Most balls faced: M Waugh (435 balls)
Most innings: G Headley, M Crowe, K Wessels (16 innings)
Most not outs: D Bradman (7 not outs)
Highest average: M Waugh (67.70
Highest runs per innings: M Waugh (45.13)
Highest strike rate: Z Abbas (217.41 runs/100)
Lowest strike rate: M Azharuddin (82.08)
Most 100s: M Waugh (1x100s)
Most 50s: M Waugh (5x50s)

Bowling Stats

Top 10 Wicket Takers

Player	Wickets	Average
C Ambrose	36	9.25
J Garner	33	10.42
E Chatfield	32	13.13
F Trueman	26	16.54
W Akram	25	14.68
R Hadlee	25	18.76
L Cairns	25	19.36
B Willis	23	16.63
B Bedi	23	17.30
P Pollock	23	18.48

Next 10

Player	Wickets	Average
A Donald	23	19.26
A Faulkner	22	15.06
M Marshal	22	15.65
V Mankad	22	17.95
D Lillee	22	18.45
T Greig	22	19.18
W Younis	22	20.41
S Warne	21	19.14
K Dev	20	20.10
A Roberts	20	21.45

Best Figures (one entry per player)

Player	Best	4 WI
C Ambrose	5-7	3
E Chatfield	5-14	2
P Pollock	5-19	1
W Akram	5.23	2
S Warne	5-24	2
R Hadlee	5-28	2
A Kumble	4-15	1
M Marshall	4-15	1
B Willis	4-16	1
A Faulkner	4-17	2

Miscellaneous (min 10 overs)

Most overs bowled: L Cairns (64.33 overs)
Most dots: C Ambrose (180 dots)
Most runs conceded: L Cairns (484 runs)
Best average: C Ambrose (9.25)
Best strike rate: E Chatfield (9.34)
Best economy: C Ambrose (5.33)
Worst Economy: U Chadana (10.58 runs per over)

Final Things
Full stats of the entire tournament can be found over at the ATG T20 Championship Spreadsheet. Every stat for over 100 players and over 60 matches was recorded there.

The next ATG tournament will be a tournament that includes World Cup Winning XIs. There will be 15 ODI teams that will qualify (including the two WSC International Cup winners and this year's champion). Another option is a domestic-based tournament, though I'm unsure how that would work at the moment. Suggestions welcome.

And if you have been, thanks for reading.