England demolish West Indies to level series
England captain Andrew Strauss played a superb captain’s innings when he led his English side to an emphatic nine wicket victory in the fourth ODI against West Indies at the Kensington Oval in Barbados yesterday.
Set a revised total of 135 in 20 overs under the Duckworth-Lewis method after rain threatened to wash out the match, England romped to victory with nine balls to spare with Strauss smashing 79 not out and fellow opener Ravi Bopara being dismissed for 35.
Earlier in the day West Indies made 239 for 9 in their allotted 50 overs.
Strauss won the toss in the morning and asked West Indies to bat first. Captain Chris Gayle and fellow opener Lendl Simmons were off to a blistering start scoring 72 in just 12.4 overs before their opening partnership was broken.
Chris Gayle was once again in punishing form smashing 46 in 39 balls with 3 fours and 5 sixes before miscuing a pull shot from Chris Board and being caught by wicket keeper Matt Prior.
Simmons was next to go being run out in a terrible mix up with Ramnaresh Sarwan for 29. Sarwan was next to go playing on to Flintoff leaving West Indies precariously placed at 83 for 3.
Dimitri Mascarenhas after conceding 24 runs in a solitary over in Friday’s match returned with a vengeance. He broke the back of the West Indies middle order with an impressive 3 wicket haul and conceding just 26 runs in his spell of 10 overs and claiming the wickets of Denesh Ramdhin, the prized scalp of Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Keiron Pollard.
There were suggestions that Pollard may not have been out as Flintoff appeared to have stepped on the rope in completing a catch on the boundary but replays proved inconclusive.
England’s star middle order batsman Kevin Pietersen, who earlier in the week made some unsavoury comments about Shivnarine Chanderpaul referring to him as being “selfish” left the field with back spasms after bowling only five deliveries. He was not seen for the rest of the match.
West Indies then slumped to 145 for 6 in the 35th over but the ever ebullient Dwayne Bravo scored an impressive 69 off 72 deliveries and with help from the tailenders helped West Indies reach a competitive 239 for 9 off their allotted 50 overs. In the process they managed to 50 runs in the final power play overs taken from the 42nd to the 46th overs.
England’s most successful bowlers were Mascarenhas and Broad who both bagged three wickets each.
There was a break for rain in the West Indies innings and with more heavy showers during the interval it appeared the rain was going to have the last say.
However, around 4:30pm the match resumed and England were chasing their revised total of 135 in 20 overs.
Captain Strauss was off to a rollicking start smashing the hapless Lionel Baker for four consecutive boundaries in his second over as the English batsmen went into overdrive.
They brought up their 50 in just 5.2 overs. Bopara gave admirable support to Strauss as they added 108 for the first wicket.
There was some controversy when Strauss edged Pollard to wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdhin who claimed a catch diving full to his left as the ball appeared to just bounced into his glove. The decision was referred to the third umpire who ruled it not out.
By the time the partnership ended with Bopara being caught on the long leg boundary by Miller off Pollard the match itself was literally over as Matt Prior came out to the middle.
Together with Strauss they saw England to victory leveling the series 2-2 with everything to play for in the 5th and final ODI to be played on Friday in St Lucia.
The match also saw the end of 62 year old West Indian umpire Steve Bucknor illustrious career as he retired after 20 years. The FIFA approved football referee umpired 128 test matches and 181 one day matches. He was honoured before the start of the match and at the end of the match he said farewell with a lap of honour around the Kensington Oval.
With the threat of industrial action looming between the WICB (West Indies Cricket Board) and the WIPA (West Indies Players Association) there is chance Friday’s match maybe not be played as hinted by Chris Gayle earlier this week.
This certainly will put a damper on a series that ebbed and flowed and if the match is not played then cricket will be the big loser.
Comments
One Response to “England demolish West Indies to level series”
Undone by DuckWorth-Lewis in two games. Next – WIPA-WICB system. West Indies cricket will always be entertaining – on and off the field.