Sammy, rain help Windies advance to next stage

May 04, 2010 Sports

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England lose by 8 wkts on D/L system

By Sean Devers

Another ram-packed Guyana National Stadium at Providence was in celebratory mode yesterday afternoon and not even the drenching rain could prevent the over 15,000 flag-waving fans from dancing in the stands as West Indies booked a place in the 2nd stage of the ICC 20/20 World Cup by finishing the only unbeaten team in Group D.
Set the daunting task of getting 192 for victory, the home team, who beat Ireland in their opening game on Friday night, began their reply with all guns blazing before a heavy downpour put a damper on the fiery burst from Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul. The openers added 30 in 2.2 overs before the stoppage at 15:21hrs and the subsequent delay turned the match back in the West Indies favour.
In the end, set a revised target of 60 from 6 overs on the Duckworth/Lewis system, after England had reached 191-5 off their 20 overs, the home side reached 60-2 with a ball to spare despite the loss of Gayle (25) and the underachieving Keiron Pollard for duck.
While the weather robbed England the opportunity of following up a commanding batting performance by restricting the hosts to less than 191 and the raucous crowd of watching a ‘full match’ not many would have been too disappointed with the outcome as rain helped the West Indies qualify for the next round in Barbados by reducing their victory target.
St Lucian Darren Sammy took 2-22 from 4 impressive overs and his 2nd consecutive Man-of-the-Match award after England had galloped to 50-1 in five overs to help put the brakes on the hectic scoring in the middle overs.
A questionable decision by Gayle to give Ravi Rampaul another over at the ‘death’ and not give left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn his full quota of 4 overs helped England post their highest total in this format.
Pacer Ravi Rampaul, who was taken for 25 runs during his 2 opening overs, was strangely asked to bowl the 18th over and was clobbered for 27 to finish with 0-52 from 3 overs while the much hyped-up Pollard was ‘lashed’ for 16 runs off his only over of gentle medium pace on a good track as England scored 91 runs from their last 8 overs.
Benn, who opened the bowling, finished with 0-23 from 3 overs while fellow spinner
Nikita Miller (4-0-29-1) also showed the value of slow bowling at Providence.
Eoin Morgan who blasted 55 from 35 balls with 3 fours and a six and Luke White, whose undefeated 45 came from 27 balls with a four and 4 sixes, joined forces at 88-4 after Sammy took 2 wickets in the 10th over and put together 95 as they launched a vicious onslaught on especially Rampaul.
Craig Kieswetter who hit 26 from 14 balls with a four and 3 sixes and Michael Lumb whose 18-ball 28 was decorated with 4 boundaries, gave the English innings impetus before Gayle, who missed the last match due to injury, bowled Lumb in his only over to leave the score on 36-1 in the 4th over.
Left-arm spinner Nikita Miller then trapped Kieswetter leg before at 66-2 in the 7th over and when the live-wire Sammy got rid of the dangerous Kevin Pietersen for a cameo 24 and Skipper Paul Collingwood (6) in the 10th over in the space of 7 runs, the West Indies were fighting back.
But not for the first time, the Regional side, hunting their first multi-nation trophy since their Champions Trophy success in 2004, let the opposition dictate the terms and the vicious 5th wicket onslaught on the large ground appeared to have done enough to have set-up an England win before Gayle’s ferocious hitting and the weather, turned the contest back in the West Indies favour.
On a slow track, the West Indies medium pacers bowled too short and the destruction of Rampaul and Pollard by Wright and Morgan was a concern as the Caribbean side head to Barbados where their pacers are expected to play a bigger role than on the flatter tracks in Guyana and St Lucia.
With pulsating Soca music emanating from the packed Party stand and the cheerleaders producing energized dance moves, Gayle, the first batsman to score a 20/20 International century and one of four to ever do so, showed he meant business from the first over by Ryan Sidebottom.
The left arm speedster, operating in almost English-like overcast conditions, beat the edge a couple of time before a scintillating cover driven boundary which followed an edge over slip for four and a thunderous drive for six over extra cover set the West Indies on course with 15 from the first over.
Needing to score at 9.6 runs per over to win, Gayle clobbered off-spinner Graeme Swann for six and Chanderpaul reversed swept him over the point boundary and the crowd went wild.
The rain intervened and when play finally resumed after excellent work from the ground-staff, 30 was required from 28 balls and with all of their wickets in hand, the pendulum had swung the West Indies way.
Gayle hit Swann for six to reduce the victory target to 19 from 15 balls but drilled a catch to short mid-wicket next ball and had the home team needed the full 192 to win those who had placed bets on the hosts could have been holding their breaths.
However, Chanderpaul with a sensible unbeaten 15 from 13 balls remained to the end although Pollard, sent in at three to hasten the win, did little to improve his 20/20 International average of 11.20 with his first ball demise to a wide from Swann at 42-2.
Andre Fletcher, picked to wicketkeeper at the expense of first choice glove-man Denish Ramdin who continues to struggle with the bat, kept English hopes alive and West Indies fans’ blood pressure up with a couple of swings and misses before he pulled Stuart Broad to the square-leg boundary with 5 to go from 3 balls to effectively seal the issue.
New Zealand and Zimbabwe play today’s opening match from 09:30hrs before England, who have appeared in just 2 semi-finals since losing the 1992 World Cup final and the only major cricketing nation without a multi-nation trophy, clash with Ireland today in a game both teams need to win to advance in the competition.

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