ICC World Twenty20 Super Eights: WI Rollick Past England; Hosts Depressed

The England captain, Paul Collingwood, proudly stated that the rain would stay away for England. But it did not. And it brought gloom with it as West Indies stole the match in the dying stages to make it to the semi finals of the ICC World Twenty20 in rather thrilling fashion.
England’s batting revolved around Ravi Bopara’s half century and Kevin Pietersen’s thirty-one. However, the end of the two players only meant measly contributions from the rest of the line up. But in the final count, England managed to rake up 161, this despite the rain playing truant in the final few overs of England’s innings.
While the West Indies captain Chris Gayle considered 161 an under par score that his team could have chased down in twenty overs, the revised target after Messrs. Duckworth and Lewis came into the picture was eighty needed off just nine overs.
The way the West Indies innings started out, it appeared that West Indies had thrown it away. Andre Fletcher was sent home by James Anderson for naught while Stuart Broad punished Lendl Simmons off without troubling the scorers at all. In between Gayle’s heroics for fifteen were done and dusted.
Dwayne Bravo stood like a beacon light on eighteen but the end of his stay at the crease in the sixth wicket brought together the old war horses in Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul. With seventeen runs still required from twelve balls, the West Indies’ penchant for self destruction was not off the cards. While Chanderpul laid anchor, Sarwan smashed a ten ball seventeen to steer West Indies from the depths of despairs to the throes of thrills of having qualified for the semi finals.
The England team suffered a setback and after beating India the other night, they had once again hit a low, though not one as hollow as the one against the Netherlands. For West Indies, Chris Gayle described it as an emotional victory after losing Fidel Edwards just before the toss to a back strain.

To catch all the matches of the ICC World Twenty20 in England, begin with

ICC World Twenty20: India Clobber Ireland

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