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The Windies were slow out of the blocks, with opener Johnson Charles departing without scoring. Chris Gayle was expected to accelerate the scoring, but he was trapped lbw by Ajantha Mendis after just three runs from 13 deliveries.
Samuels provided some fireworks in the 13th over when he smashed fast bowler Lasith Malinga for three sixes, taking the visitors to 69-2.
Samuels' partnership with Dwayne Bravo (17) ended when the latter was deemed lbw from the bowling of Ajantha Mendis, who finished the innings with four wickets.
Samuels finally departed on 78 from 56 balls while a useful knock from captain Darren Sammy (26) helped the West indies claw their weay to a respectable if hardly intimidating 137-6.
But Sri Lanka made an inauspicious start to their reply, with opener Tillakaratne Dilshan bowled by Ravi Rampaul, before captain Mahela Jayawardene steadied the ship, albeit at a mournful run-rate.
West Indies' second breakthrough came in the 10th over when Kumar Sangakkara (22) holed out to Pollard in the deep off the bowling of Samuel Badree. Angelo Mathews (1) was bowled by Sammy soon after.
Jayawardene's exit via a reverse sweep sparked a Sri Lanka collapse as the required run-rate spiralled. Jeevan Mendis (3) and Thisara Perera (3) were both run out before Lahiru Thirimanne was caught in the deep.
Nuwan Kulasekara's late flurry gave Sri Lanka hope of an improbable comeback, although when he fell for 26 so did their chances of success in front of a stunned and now almost silent home crowd.It is West Indies' first success in the tournament while Sri Lanka have now suffered final heartache twice after finishing as runners-up to Pakistan in 2009.
The visitors would have been in serious trouble had it not been for Samuels who helped himself to six sixes in the contest, only eight were scored between both teams.
The pairing of Jayawardene and Sangakkara (42) looked like laying a solid foundation for the hosts to build a match-winning innings, although it proved to be a false dawn.
Narine was the pick of the bowlers for the West Indies with 3-9 from his 3.4 overs while Sammy claimed 2-6 with Badree, Rampul and Samuels all picking up a wicket.
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