Joe Root’s heroics with bat and ball fired England to the brink of ICC World T20 glory, only to be robbed at the death by Carlos Brathwaite.
Root’s assured half-century helped England post 155-9 from their 20 overs, and his two early wickets put the West Indies on the rack in reply.
Marlon Samuels scored 85 not out to drag his side back into the game, albeit he was stranded at the non-strikers end with 19 runs required off the final over to win.
Brathwaite, who had earlier posted career-best bowling figures of 3-23, launched four successive Ben Stokes deliveries into the stands to dramatically win it for the Windies; finishing 34 not out off just ten deliveries.
Eoin Morgan had six frontline bowlers to choose from with the new ball as his side aimed to defend their under-par total. He tossed it to Root for some part-tme off-spin and the ploy proved to be a masterstroke.
Neither of the Windies openers, Johnson Charles or Chris Gayle, could resist aiming to lash the Yorkshireman out of the park.
Both only succeeded in picking out Ben Stokes in the deep and the pressure run-chase was off to a shocker at 5-2.
Three balls into the third over, Willey’s accurate left-arm swing plunged the 2012 winners into deeper trouble by trapping their semi-final match-winner Lendl Simmons lbw; 11-3.
Marlon Samuels was looking dangerous on 27 not out when he edged Liam Plunkett behind and wandered back to the dugout.
But, after doubt emerged over whether the ball had carried, the third umpire reprieved the West Indies deadpan assassin, who went on to reach the ninth half-century of his T20 international career off 47 deliveries.
Dwayne Bravo, dropped on seven by 12th man Sam Billings off Stokes' slower-ball bouncer, eventually perished for 25 as Adil Rashid rounded off impressive figures of 1-23 from his four overs.
It brought the fourth wicket stand of 75 to an end, and left the West Indies requiring 70 runs off the final 36 deliveries to take the trophy.
Samuels clumped Plunkett for successive sixes to drag the Windies back up with the rate but, as the returning Willey accounted for Andre Russell, Stokes taking his third pressure catch of the innings, the pendulum swung back in England’s favour.
Darren Sammy scored just two before picking out Alex Hales on the cover boundary, giving Willey scarcely believable figures of 3-6 at that stage.
Brathwaite’s boundary over the keeper’s head kept the Windes in the contest needing 27 runs from the final two overs. Jordan’s over cost eight, leaving Stokes to defend 19 off the last.
England were favourites then – but four successive Brathwaite sixes broke the game as the West Indies won with two balls to spare.
Sammy had earlier won his tenth consecutive toss and invited England to bat, before Samuel Badree gave the men from the Caribbean a dream start by up-rooting the leg stump of Jason Roy off the second ball of the match.
Nottinghamshire's Hales faired little better, caught at short fine leg off Russell for one. And when Morgan, on five, was deceived by Badree’s googly and pouched by Gayle at slip, England were 23-3 after 4.4 overs.
The experienced leg-spinner took 2-16 from his four exemplary overs, before Root and Buttler rebuilt with a stand of 61 in 6.4 overs, during which the left-arm spin of Sulieman Benn came in for particularly rough treatment, leaking 40 from his three overs.
But the in-form keeper-batsman was out for 36 when he pulled Brathwaite down the throat of deep square leg, 84-4 with 11.2 overs gone.
Root retained his classy stroke playing principles to glide past 50 in 36 balls with six fours, but things were about to go spectacularly wrong.
Stokes, on 15, attempted to draw his bat away from a Bravo short-ball. However, so well directed was the delivery, it lobbed off the shoulder of the bat and was snaffled by Simmons at cover.
A sold out Eden Gardens was treated to a second stint of Bravo celebratory dancing when Moeen Ali gloved through to Danesh Ramdin to depart for a duck.
England’s half-centurion was visibly agitated and, as his attempt to break the shackles with a dilshan-scoop off Brathwaite came unstuck via Benn’s low catch at short fine-leg, England had lost three wickets for one run and were 111-7 with 5.5 overs still to go.
Willey opted to counter attack, launching a pair of big sixes off the 17th over bowled by Bravo en route to a defiant 14 ball 21.
A terrific catch in the deep by a sprawling Charles brought the Yorkshire bound all-rounder’s fun to an end off Brathwaite, leaving England 136-8 with 2.3 overs still to go.
The Windies continued to catch brilliantly as Badree executed a diving pluck at backward point to dismiss Plunkett. Bravo’s mixed bag of slower balls brought him closing figures of 3-37.
Jordan may have laboured slightly to his unbeaten 12, however his timely bunt to the boundary in the final over of the innings, bowled by Russell, at least took England beyond 150.
It was one of only two boundaries conceded by the impressive Russell, who bowled with pace and accuracy to secure figures of 4-0-21-1.
So often the West Indies’ finisher with the bat, the all-rounder could only watch from the dugout as the final drama of the tournament unfolded.
A man with far less experience, but clearly no less power, proved to be a more than able deputy.
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