Sarwan proves to be too cool for Collingwood
England 161-6 West Indies 82-5
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Your support makes all the difference.It was valiant but in the end it was futile. England went out of the World Twenty20 last night after the West Indies made a swaggering 82 from nine overs.
Wickets kept falling but the runs kept coming as Chris Gayle's much derided side refused to succumb. The depth of their batting was vital to the outcome in the Super Eight match and they are through to the semi-finals, where they must now assume they can take on all-comers.
Just when England must have presumed they had broken the back of the innings, having removed the supposed danger men, they were undone by the old Guyanese double act of Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
Years of experience counted now and the pair used every minute of it to get their side over the line. They knew that they simply had to hit the bad balls and score off as many balls as possible. The strategy worked to perfection. Between them the pair scored at least a run from every ball they faced.
It was wonderfully paced and the oddity was that they never seemed as if they were rushing. How different it was from the mayhem at the start of their pursuit when runs and wickets all came in a clatter.
The first four had already been struck by Gayle when Andre Fletcher was caught off a top-edged hook. Then the wicket that England prized most of all arrived when Ryan Sidebottom speared a searing yorker into Gayle's stumps.
Soon it was 16 for 3 when Lendl Simmons steered to third man and England were in control of their destiny. Nine runs came off the fourth and 11 off the fifth to ensure that the West Indies stayed up with the Duckworth-Lewis rate. When Dwayne Bravo was stumped by the lightning hands of James Foster, England nudged ahead again. When Adil Rashid turned a leg break past Kieron Pollard as he tried to smash a second six, the home side seemed to be assured of victory.
But Chanderpaul and Sarwan were delightful and England had no answer to their precise placement and determined running.
After a bright start, England's innings had grown stultified. It was clear from the team selection – bold or foolish, depending on your viewpoint – the runs had to come from the upper order. There were no big hitters down below, there were not many up top.
The selectors decided they must squeeze Rashid and his leg-spin into the side and left out Dimitri Mascarenhas, which deprived England of a batting option, though recently that has been more in theory than practice. West Indies had to make an enforced change minutes before the start when Fidel Edwards pulled up in the warm-up with an injured back. Darren Sammy was summoned for his first game of the tournament.
As is almost the norm, England lost Luke Wright in the second over. It has become a frustrating tournament for the Sussex dasher and he has faced six, seven and six balls in his last three innings. The suspicion is that he simply cannot deal with good bowling in the manner that England would wish.
In came Kevin Pietersen, bristling and aware that his partnership with Ravi Bopara was crucial to England's prospects. He struck his first two balls for four through the leg side and in the fifth over he twice hit Jerome Taylor down the ground.
After five overs, England had made 49 for 1, after 10 they were 83 for 2. It had begun to go awry when Pietersen, mauling the bowling, put a premeditated sweep down square leg's throat.
From the 11th over, England made 11 runs. Owais Shah flicking a disdainful six over midwicket. And then they all but stopped. After that over, England were 94 for 2, after the 15th they were 116 for 3. Bopara batted with elan for his 55 but he never seemed capable yesterday of moving up a gear or of marshalling the resources around him.
True, Shah was the victim of a corking catch after he drilled one high to midwicket but England had so little nous afterwards that they were always destined to score fewer than they ought to have done.
There were no boundaries in the last five overs until Stuart Broad hit a six and a four from the last two balls of the innings. Still, their total was competitive. The rain reduced its worth because, as all sides chasing in a DL-formulated match know, they still have 10 wickets to play with. It counts for much especially when, like the West Indies, the batting goes so deep.
England leave the tournament knowing what might have been, but they probably recognise that the Super Eight stage was the realistic limit of their aspirations. For the mercurial West Indies anything is possible.
England v West Indies scoreboard
THE OVAL (One day): West Indies (2pts) beat England by five wickets (D/L Method)
England won toss
ENGLAND
......... Runs......... 6s......... 4s......... Bls......... Min
R S Bopara lbw b Gayle......... 55......... 0......... 5......... 47......... 61
L J Wright c Ramdin b Pollard......... 6......... 0......... 1......... 6......... 5
K P Pietersen c Fletcher b Simmons......... 31......... 0......... 5......... 19......... 23
O A Shah c Fletcher b Bravo......... 18......... 1......... 1......... 15......... 15
*P D Collingwood lbw b Bravo......... 11......... 0......... 0......... 10......... 48
†J S Foster c Pollard b Benn......... 13......... 0......... 0......... 12......... 45
G P Swann not out......... 10......... 0......... 0......... 9......... 11
S C J Broad not out......... 10......... 1......... 1......... 2......... 1
Extras (lb4 w3)......... 7
Total (for 6, 20 overs)......... 161
Fall: 1-8, 2-64, 3-98, 4-121, 5-132, 6-150.
Did not bat: A U Rashid, R J Sidebottom, J M Anderson.
Bowling: D J G Sammy 4-0-24-0, K A Pollard 1-0-10-1, S J Benn 4-0-30-1, J E Taylor 2-0-24-0, C H Gayle 4-0-25-1, L M P Simmons 1-0-14-1, D J Bravo 4-0-30-2.
WEST INDIES
......... Runs......... 6s......... 4s......... Bls......... Min
*C H Gayle b Sidebottom......... 15......... 0......... 3......... 8......... 8
A D S Fletcher c Foster b Anderson......... 0......... 0......... 0......... 3......... 3
L M P Simmons c Sidebottom b Broad......... 0......... 0......... 0......... 1......... 5
D J Bravo st Foster b Swann......... 18......... 1......... 1......... 13......... 17
K A Pollard b Rashid......... 9......... 1......... 0......... 6......... 9
S Chanderpaul not out......... 17......... 0......... 1......... 10......... 23
R R Sarwan not out......... 19......... 0......... 3......... 9......... 19
Extras (lb1 w3)......... 4
Total (for 5, 8.2 overs)......... 82
Fall: 1-6, 2-16, 3-16, 4-41, 5-45.
Did not bat: †D Ramdin, J E Taylor, S J Benn, D J G Sammy.
Bowling: J M Anderson 2-0-19-1, R J Sidebottom 1.2-0-15-1, S C J Broad 2-0-20-1, G P Swann 2-0-16-1, A U Rashid 1-0-11-1.
Umpires: Aleem Dar and R E Koertzen.
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