(Colombo, LKA) - 1655 GMT: AFP IS NOW CLOSING THIS LIVE REPORT, after the West Indies were crowned the new World Twenty20 champions after a 36-run victory over hosts Sri Lanka in a thrilling final in Colombo. It was the West Indies' first major title since 2004 when they lifted the Champions Trophy in England.
1650 GMT: Dwayne Bravo, 29 today, says: "It's a fantastic day. We made history and we are going to have a big party, a non-stop party all night."
1645 GMT: Chris Gayle says: "It's been wonderful. Well done team, well done management team. We love you Sri Lanka!"
1642 GMT: For the record, Malinga was the last man out, caught by Bravo off Narine for five. That sparked joyous celebrations from the West Indies and their sprinkling of fans at the Premadasa Stadium.
1640 GMT: West Indies beat hosts Sri Lanka by 36 runs.
WEST INDIES WIN WORLD T20
WICKET! Mendis b Samuels c DJ Bravo 1
WICKET! Kulasekera c Badree b Narine 26
16 OVERS: SRI LANKA 94-7 (target 138). There might be 35,000 in the Premadasa Stadium, but you could hear a pin drop now. The Sri Lanka players sit on the bench in stunned silence. But suddenly Kulasekera belts Sri Lanka's first six of the match, and then three fours to get the fans going again. He grits his teeth as he watches the ball ping over the boundary. Expensive over from Rampaul.
15 OVERS: SRI LANKA 72-7 (target 138). Thirimanne went for the six but the ball fell invitingly into the hands of Charles at the boundary. Sri Lanka have imploded here on home soil.
WICKET! Thirimanne c Charles b Sammy 4
14 OVERS: SRI LANKA 68-6 (target 138). It's gone all wrong for Sri Lanka here. Great fielding from Ramdin to catch out Perera. Ramdin nailed the stumps at the blower's end with a direct hit.
WICKET! Perera run out 3
13 OVERS: SRI LANKA 64-5 (target 138). Disaster for Sri Lanka as first Jayawardene slices the reverse sweep to give Sammy an easy catch and then Mendis ran on a misfield but was caught well short as they went for the second. Massive over. The home crowd look stunned.
WICKET! Mendis run out 3
WICKET! Jayawardene c Sammy b Narine 33
12 OVERS: SRI LANKA 60-3 (target 138). Russell cannot quite make the most of a presentable chance off Jayawardene. It was not an easy one by any means. Mendis also rides his luck as he nearly takes off his own bails
11 OVERS: SRI LANKA 53-3 (target 138). Halfway through the Sri Lanka innings and West Indies are making a real game of this. There is disbelief among the home crowd as they see Angelo Mathews go for just one. To add to the drama, that rain that was predicted has arrived, albeit only as drizzle so far.
WICKET! Mathews b Sammy 1
10 OVERS: SRI LANKA 51-2 (target 138). Big wicket for West Indies as Kieron Pollard makes a smart catch off Sangakkara, who scored 22 in 26 balls.
WICKET! Sangakkara c Pollard b Badree 22
9 OVERS: SRI LANKA 47-1(target 138). Big boundary from Sangakkara for a four off Gayle with the second ball of Gayle's second over. Loud cheer goes up around the stadium as the screens show Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse. He gives a small wave in return.
8 OVERS: SRI LANKA 39-1 (target 138). Sunil Narine, wearing number 74 on his back, provides two lovely turning balls to start his over, before conceding a trio of singles. Good tight over.
7 OVERS: SRI LANKA 36-1 (target 138). Chris Gayle takes the ball for West Indies. He had a rare off-day with the bat, can he do better with the ball? Conservative stuff from Sangakkara and Jayawardene, who are on 14 and 21 respectively.
6 OVERS: SRI LANKA 30-1 (target 138). Sloppy fielding from Kieron Pollard as he fumbles the ball in the outfield. Rampaul bowls for West Indies, restricting the hosts to only four in the over.
5 OVERS: SRI LANKA 26-1 (target 138). Samuels takes the ball again, once more keeping it tight. Sri Lanka need 7.48 on average per over, they are marginally below that so far.
4 OVERS: SRI LANKA 23-1 (target 138). Jayawardene and Sangakkara look well set against Badree, making eight from the over.
3 OVERS: SRI LANKA 15-1. It's that man Marlon Samuels again. This time he's bowling, chewing gum furiously. He has a half-hearted appeal waved away, then Dwayne Bravo drops a presentable chance off Jayawardene on the third ball of Samuels' tight over.
2 OVERS: SRI LANKA 11-1. Well well well. That's silenced the majority of the 35,000 crowd at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Dilshan gone for a duck and his stumps sent flying. Skipper Kumar Sangakkara replaces him and gets to work immediately with a four in his opening over.
WICKET! Dilshan b Rampaul 0
1 OVER: SRI LANKA 6-0: Lovely four from Jayawardene as the hosts make a competent start in their chase for 138.
1513 GMT: Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan come out to bat for Sri Lanka. Samuel Badree bowls.
1510 GMT: Sri Lankan fan Damayantha Perera tells AFP's Amal Jayasinghe that he expected Sri Lanka to do well but never dreamt that Chris Gayle could be dismissed so cheaply. "I still can't believe we restricted them to less than 50 in the first 10 overs," he says.
1505 GMT: Sri Lanka's Angelo Mathews says: "They are probably 15-20 runs below par. One hundred and sixty would have been a very good score on this pitch."
1503 GMT: That's it for the West Indies. Sri Lanka need 138 to win.
20 OVERS: WEST INDIES 137-6. Sammy slaps a four that sneaks to the boundary as the West Indies attempt to scratch their way to a competitive total in the final over of their innings. Dilshan prevents another four as he sprawls to the floor and Sammy gets a lucky escape as the ball hits his helmet as he scrambles home. Sammy completes the innings with a four.
19 OVERS: WEST INDIES 122-6. Lasith Malinga shakes his head as he concedes a single, Darren Sammy and Denesh Ramdin at the crease. Malinga has been surprisingly expensive in the match so far, losing his length several times to Samuels.
18 OVERS: WEST INDIES 112-6. You have to feel sorry for Marlon Samuels, who has been the only batsman to defy the relentless Sri Lankan bowling attack. He went for another big hit but got his timing wrong and presented an easy catch on the boundary to Mendis.
WICKET! Samuels c Mendis b Dananjaya 78
17 OVERS: WEST INDIES 108-5. Lasith Malinga takes the ball, with Samuels now in his sights. Samuels hits a four with the third ball of the over and then hooks a six that just about carries all the way, and follows that up with another monster six.
16 OVERS: WEST INDIES 89-5. Ajantha Mendis take two in a row to skittle out Pollard for two and then Andre Russell for a duck. Darren Sammy survives a close runout after a TV review.
WICKET! Russell b Mendis 0
WICKET! Pollard c Dananjaya b Mendis 2
15 OVERS: WEST INDIES 87-3. For a moment Sri Lanka looked like they might become complacent, then Mendis bamboozles Dwayne Bravo. Samuels is the danger man for the West Indies now, with 59 from 48 balls so far.
14 OVERS: WEST INDIES 73-3. Kieron Pollard is on.
WICKET! Bravo Lbw Mendis 19
13 OVERS: WEST INDIES 69-2. The home fans are loving this, and rightly so, because Sri Lanka are in firm control. But Samuels thumps three mighty sixes to boost the run rate off Malinga. Twenty-one off that over for West Indies. That's more like it.
12 OVERS: WEST INDIES 48-2. Dananjaya really is a surprise package, but he gets smacked for a six by Dwayne Bravo in the first ball of the over, before tightening up again. Better for the West Indies.
11 OVERS: WEST INDIES 38-2. Lucky lucky Samuels. He belts one for six but Kulasekera cannot hold onto it at the boundary, despite having two attempts at it. At least Marlon Samuels is having a go -- the West Indies need runs. Plenty of them. And fast.
10 OVERS: WEST INDIES 32-2. The 19-year-old Akila Dananjaya takes the ball for Sri Lanka. The spinner replaced Rangana Herath and shows why there was so much faith placed on him -- he concedes just three runs.
9 OVERS: WEST INDIES 29-2. Angelo Mathews takes the ball for his last over. Malinga dives low to stop a certain four for Samuels, earning rich applause from the home fans. Kulasekera then saves another boundary.
8 OVERS: WEST INDIES 22-2. Mendis has the ball now. Samuels goes for a big shot -- and
the West Indies need it, the run rate is 2.68 -- but he scuffs his shot.
7 OVERS: WEST INDIES 18-2. West Indies are in deep deep trouble here. Marlon Samuels and Dwayne Bravo are the men charged now with attempting to get them back on track. Gayle faced just 16 balls before it was all over for the great Jamaican.
6 OVERS: WEST INDIES 14-2. That's the wicket Sri Lanka wanted the most. Gayle is replaced by birthday boy Bravo, but so far this is not the celebration he would have been hoping for. Gayle never looked comfortable.
WICKET! Gayle Lbw Mendis 3
5 OVERS: WEST INDIES 12-1. The bushy-haired Malinga is brought into the bowling attack. His third ball of the over tempts Gayle into the shot, but he misses and then prods for a single with the next ball. West Indies' run-rate a pedestrian 2.48 so far.
4 OVERS: WEST INDIES 8-1. Samuels gets the West Indies' first boundary of a difficult opening. Kulasekera is the bowler, and this is a fine start from the Sri Lankans. Gayle not firing yet and he faces down another strong call for Lbw, but replays show it is the correct decision again.
3 OVERS: WEST INDIES 2-1. Marlon Samuels on strike and the hosts get a decent call for Lbw in a very tight over from Mathews. Gayle then nearly nicks one in the final ball of the over, but he gets away with it.
2 OVERS: WEST INDIES 1-1. West Indies survived this over as Gayle made a tentative start. AFP reporter Shahid Hashmi tells me from the stadium that Lasith Malinga-like wigs are on big demand outside the stadium. Kulasekera bowls a tight line and is getting some swing.
1 OVER: WEST INDIES 0-1. Nightmare start for West Indies as Charles skies it and is caught comfortably for a duck. Samuels comes in.
WICKET! Charles b Mathews c Kulasekera 0
1330 GMT: Chris Gayle strolls out looking typically confident. He is partnered by Johnson Charles, who will take the strike. Angelo Mathews opens the attack for Sri Lanka.
1326 GMT: The Sri Lanka national anthem -- a catchy number -- is heartily sung and we are nearly ready to go.
1323 GMT: The players are coming out onto the pitch, leading mascots dressed in all whites out onto the turf. It is almost dark now after a stunning sunset.
1320 GMT: Ten minutes to go. Sitting comfortably? This should be a cracker.
1319 GMT: More on that possible rain. AFP reporter Amal Jayasinghe tells me that heavy downpours have been ruled out by local forecasters but there will be occasional showers from almost the first over.
1316 GMT: Both sides have been making confident noises in the lead-up to this final showdown, but AFP's cricket experts say that the West Indies' chances rest on the considerable shoulders of the swashbuckling Chris Gayle.
1314 GMT: These two sides have already met twice in the last month. Sri Lanka defeated the West Indies by nine wickets in a practice game before the tournament and again by the same margin in the Super Eights stage. But this is when it really counts.
1312 GMT: The music is absolutely blaring out at an already excited Premadasa Stadium in Colombo -- and the action has not even started yet. Just over fifteen minutes to go.
1309 GMT: AFP reporter Kuldip Lal tells me from the stadium that there is no immediate sign of rain, but it is cloudy and the forecast is for rain later in the evening.
1306 GMT: West Indies keep the same side that destroyed Australia in the semis. The hosts make one change, bringing in Dananjaya for Herath.
WEST INDIES WIN TOSS AND WILL BAT FIRST.
WELCOME TO AFP'S LIVE REPORT of the World Twenty20 final between the hosts Sri Lanka and the West Indies. After Australia retained the women's title with a four-run win over England, it is now the turn of the men. The match is scheduled to start at the sell-out Premadasa Stadium in Colombo at 1330 GMT.
This is the hottest ticket in town, with the sell-out 35,000 crowd expected to offer boisterous support. Mahela Jayawardene's men will be attempting to reverse their fortunes after losing three finals in major tournaments since 2007.
Large crowds are expected at cricket clubs across Sri Lanka, where giant screens have been erected, while many families are gathering around televisions at home to watch their national heroes.
Standing in the way of home glory is the destructive West Indies batting led by opener Chris Gayle, who crushed Australia in Friday's semi-final with a scintillating 75 off 41 balls.
