England fall short

29 June 2007

Paul Collingwood kept England in the game until the final act

A sparkling innings of 79 off 42 balls from captain Paul Collingwood was not enough for England as they slipped to a 15-run defeat at the hands of West Indies in the first NatWest international Twenty20 at the Brit Oval.

England were set a mammoth 209 to win after Devon Smith (61 from 34 balls), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (41 from 26) and Marlon Samuels (51 from 26) fired West Indies to a total of 208 for eight.

The hosts stuttered to 101 for six before Collingwood and Michael Yardy put together a partnership of 91, but the chase proved too much as they could only post 193 for seven.

Collingwood lost his first toss as England captain and saw his side, including debutants Jonathan Trott and Dimitri Mascarenhas, inserted by Chris Gayle.

West Indies took full advantage of the fielding restrictions on an Oval pitch offering pace and bounce, smashing 62 from the first six overs for the loss of just Gayle.

Smith edged Ryan Sidebottom past second slip for four to get the visitors rolling before thrashing one past Collingwood at cover.

Gayle pulled James Anderson over long on for four but perished the very next ball as, attempting to play a similar shot, he could only play the ball onto his stumps for five.

Smith continued to prosper, finding the leg-side boundary off Sidebottom before a wild slash cleared third man and went for six.

Chanderpaul joined in the fun, whipping a length ball from Anderson past square leg, before twice scooping to the fine-leg boundary as Anderson’s second over went for 17.

Collingwood’s first bowling change as England captain was almost an immediate success as Chanderpaul sent one soaring high on the leg side, but Alastair Cook could not quite make up the necessary ground to take the catch.

Devon Smith cleared the boundary three times in his 61

Yardy bowled the last over of fielding restrictions and stemmed the tide somewhat going for only six but Smith pulled Broad to long leg to bring up the 50 partnership before a top-edged cut went for another six.

It was Mascarenhas who finally broke the partnership in his second over as Chanderpaul miss-timed a pull shot from a fullish delivery and Cook took a good catch diving forward.

Smith reached 50 off 30 deliveries before hammering Mascarenhas over long-off for four, but the Hampshire man claimed his second wicket as Smith attempted another leg-side heave and fell to a fine catch from Yardy.

The all-rounder’s delight was tempered somewhat when Samuels dispatched his next ball over long off for six.

Dwayne Bravo’s stay at the crease was short-lived as Yardy had him stumped by Matt Prior down the leg side for one.

Collingwood decided to turn his arm over in the 16th over, but Denesh Ramdin treated him with little respect, driving a massive six over long off before Samuels dispatched another straight back over the England skipper’s head.

A new ball was required when Samuels heaved an enormous six right out of the ground off the returning Sidebottom, and a delicate flick from Ramdin brought up the 50 partnership from just 21 deliveries with yet another boundary.

But the wicket-keeper fell for 24 from his 13th delivery, as his upper-cut from Broad went straight to Mascarenhas at third man.

Samuels reached 51 off 25 balls with another six over long off but he lost his wicket as Mascarenhas took another catch, this time at long leg off the bowling of Sidebottom.

Ryan Sidebottom runs out the unlucky Dwayne Smith

Dwayne Smith was was unlucky to go in the same over when Runako Morton’s straight drive struck the wicket at the non-striker’s end and he was run out as Sidebottom collected the ball and uprooted all three stumps.

Anderson removed Darren Sammy’s off stump in the final over, which went for just three runs and a bye, but the visitors had still set England a challenging 209 to win.

England’s reply was kick-started when Cook struck back-to-back off-side boundaries off Daren Powell and Ravi Rampaul before, in Powell’s second over, Prior unleashed a brutal straight drive and swung the next ball over mid-wicket for six.

Prior continued to swing freely on both sides of the wicket but, with the score on 40, he lost his partner as Cook miss-timed a heave outside off stump in Dwayne Smith’s first over and Bravo claimed a steepling catch.

Prior clipped one over the leg-side boundary for six, but he could not repeat the trick and departed for 25 the very next ball, his 14th, when Powell claimed a comfortable catch.

With Trott and Kevin Pietersen at the crease, England reached the end of the fielding restrictions at 54 for two.

Pietersen got into his stride with successive boundaries off Sammy but the St Lucian disturbed Trott’s stumps in the same over to leave England struggling on 69 for three.

That brought Collingwood to the crease, and he found the boundary with a chipped four over mid-wicket.

But as England did their best to push up the run rate, disaster struck with Pietersen run out for 16 as he looked for an improbable third.

Shah became Smith’s third wicket when he was adjudged lbw by umpire Nigel Llong.

Matt Prior justified his selection with a belligerent innings

Collingwood kept the chase alive with a delicate four off Samuels and a big six over long on, but he lost Mascarenhas when the debutant gave catching practice to Morton at short third man off the bowling of Sammy.

The captain did his best to keep his side in contention with another spiralling six straight down the ground off Samuels followed by a reverse sweep for four, but by that stage the run rate was around 16 per over.

Another huge maximum down the crowd brought up Collingwood’s 50 off 29 balls, before he was dropped by Powell and survived a close lbw shout off the bowling of Sammy.

Another four over mid-wicket and a clipped six over square leg followed and Collingwood was putting together a true captain’s innings.

With 45 required from three overs, Yardy hit Powell for back-to-back boundaries and when Collingwood hit yet another straight drive for four, 30 were needed from 12 balls.

But Rampaul produced an excellent over, which went for just seven, effectively sealing the win for his side.

Collingwood was finally run out from the penultimate ball leaving Yardy not out on 23 as England fell 15 runs short.