Sydney defender Aliir Aliir beams with pride at the mention of Thon Maker.Not just because he and the Australian NBA draft pick are both Sudanese - but also because they share the same blood.Maker is Aliirs cousin, the son of his mothers sister. Its their common genes, a shared sporting prowess and strength amid adversity that have steered the child refugees to the heights of the AFL and NBA.Aliir was born in Kenyas Kakuma refugee camp, moving to Australia with his family when he was eight.Maker spent the first five years of his life in what is now South Sudan before fleeing with some relatives and joining Aliir in Newcastle, then moving to Perth while Aliirs family settled in Brisbane.Most of what the pair knew then was soccer - a 14-year-old Maker was aptly discovered kicking soccer balls in Perth before developing his basketball game in Sydney, the US and Canada.Last week the 216cm talent was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 10th pick of the NBA draft, leaving Aliir ecstatic. Ive known him pretty much all my life, Aliir told AAP.When he came down to Sydney recently I caught up with him.Just to see him get drafted shows his commitment and dedication.Hes gone over to the states at a young age and left his family behind - hes got no one over there.And hes worked hard to become an NBA player.He achieved that last week so Im so rapt for him.Like Maker, Aliir was basketball-crazy as an early teenager before some mates introduced him to AFL.An Oklahoma City Thunder fan, hes a Kevin Durant man to the core.But since Thon got drafted I might have to go for the Milwaukee Bucks, he admitted.Even now as a Swans star the 21-year-old still shoots hoops occasionally, just as he did this week in Sydney at a charity basketball clinic for disadvantaged children.The focus now is showing kids how far drive can get you, even when you have nothing else.Ever since I got drafted Ive had little kids who look up to me, Aliir said.I sort of had to embrace that challenge of being a role model and try to help as many kids as I can.Theres a lot of Sudanese kids who are talented, but their mind is probably not in the right place.Theres issues stopping them from going to the next level.I suppose my job is to come to the community and just have a chat to them, give them a word of advice and tell them my pathway and how I got to where I am.Hopefully that can inspire them. 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Simmons, called into West Indies squad as a late replacement for hamstring-injury victim Andre Fletcher, cracked 82 not out from 51 balls to propel his side past Indias 192-2 with two balls to spare in Mumbai and into the showpiece game with England on Sunday, in Kolkata.The 31-year-old was twice caught off front-foot no-balls , when he was on 18 and 50, while he was also handed a lifeline late in his innings when Ravindra Jadejas foot was adjudged to be on the boundary rope as he flicked the ball back for Virat Kohli to take a catch. MS Dhoni must have felt like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day! Simmons comes in, scores runs, and you get him out - he scores runs and you get him out again, he scores runs and you get him out again! Kumar Sangakkara Coming in to a team as a replacement is not always easy but Simmons looked very focussed and I think he understood the conditions very well, Sangakkara said of the right-hander, who was playing at the home ground of his IPL franchise, Mumbai Indians.The way he started was very similar to a normal innings - hitting the loose ball and getting off strike - but he committed to every shot he played and wanted to bat through the innings, which he did.MS Dhoni, though, must have felt like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day! Simmons smashed 82 off 51 balls to send West Indies into Sundays final with England Simmons comes in, scores runs, and you get him out - he scores runs and you get him out again, he scores runs and you get him out again!It was high-drama, a beautiful chase and great to watch but cardinal mistakes cost India the game - it is hard to come back from those, even as professional players, and that catch [Jadejas] was the last straw.West Indies lost Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels cheaply at Wankhede Stadium, slipping to 19-2 when the former was bowled by Jasprit Bumrah for five and the latter chipped Ashish Nehra to cover for eight.ddddddddddddHowever, Simmons and Johnson Charles (52 from 36) smashed 97 in 10.1 overs before Andre Russell (43 off 20) and Simmons took West Indies home with an unbroken stand of 80 in 6.3 overs, Russell walloping a match-sealing six off Virat Kohlis medium pace. James Anderson, Kumar Sangakkara and Michael Atherton react to the West Indies win over India in the World T20 semi-final Im not sure one great day in Mumbai cancels out the bad days they have had in recent times but its a good little period for them, Michael Atherton added of West Indies, whose womens side will play three-time champions Australia in Sundays final.Their Under 19s have won the World Cup and their men and women are through to the final here.They are a different team in the shorter format - they often look a pale imitation in Test cricket but get them together in Twenty20 and they are a hard team to beat.They have got many more match-winners than one [Gayle].Can West Indies win both World T20 titles? Watch their men play England at 2pm on Sunday on Sky Sports 2 - immediately after their women play Australia (9.30am on the same channel). Also See: Windies to play England in final WI v Ind: As it happened England are like Australia Live cricket on Sky ' ' '