Shah stars in England win

29 June 2007

Owais Shah guides England home with 55 not out off 35 deliveries © Getty Images

Owais Shah was England’s hero as they overcame some early-innings jitters to beat West Indies by five wickets in the second NatWest Twenty20 international at the Brit Oval.

Chasing 170 for victory, England were in trouble at 68 for four and 104 for five, with Matt Prior, Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood having failed to make the most of decent starts.

But Shah struck an unbeaten 55 off 35 deliveries, backed up by 18 off 16 from Dimitri Mascarenhas, to guide his side home.

Cook hit back-to-back off-side boundaries from the first over, bowled by Dwayne Smith, and Prior gave Ravi Rampaul similar treatment in the next.

But Daren Powell replaced Smith and produced a full delivery to remove Cook’s middle stump for 10.

Prior continued to swing freely, creaming another two boundaries off Rampaul, but the Trinidadian had his revenge as he rearranged the wicket-keeper’s stumps to remove him for 22.

Jonathan Trott perished as he mistimed a pull shot and Denesh Ramdin claimed the catch to give Rampaul his second victim.

That left Pietersen and Collingwood together at 50 for three at the end of the six overs of fielding restrictions.

Pietersen pulled successive boundaries off a fired-up Powell, who was bowling his best spell of the summer at over 90mph, but Darren Sammy removed the dangerman, taking a return catch off a leading edge.

Collingwood did his best to repeat his heroics of the previous day - when he hit 79 off 41 balls to give England a sniff of victory - and a colossal six off Marlon Samuels suggested he might be able to do it, but the off-spinner hit back to have him stumped by Ramdin off the next ball for 27.

Captain Paul Collingwood helps England to rebuild their innings © Getty Images

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That seemed to end any chances of an England victory with the run-rate spiralling towards 12 per over.

But Shah had other ideas - he pilfered 16 from Samuels’ next over, before the next from Smith went for the same amount.

Shah whipped Sammy for another four past fine-leg, then nudged a single to reach 50 from 31 balls.

And with Shah’s delicate touch and Mascarenhas’ speed between the wickets, the pair were able to pick off the runs.

Chris Gayle bowled the final over and ultimately handed England the winning runs as he bowled a wide down the leg side.

Earlier, Ryan Sidebottom and Collingwood led an improved England bowling performance with two wickets apiece as they restricted West Indies to 169 for seven.

Sidebottom’s wickets cost just 25 runs from a full four overs, while Collingwood conceded 21 in two as only visiting skipper Gayle could pass 50 with the bat.

With two of Thursday's match-winners - Devon Smith and Shivnarine Chanderpaul - forced out through injury, replacements Lendl Simmons and Austin Richards could not match them.

Gayle made a statement of intent by driving the first ball of the innings past mid-off for four but, with Simmons struggling to impose himself, James Anderson’s first over went for just one.

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There were no such problems, though, for Gayle, who found the boundary twice more in Sidebottom’s next over and struck each of the first three deliveries of Anderson’s second for four.

Indeed, Gayle had piled up 33 runs before Simmons registered his first and the pressure soon proved too much to the youngster, who top-edged Anderson to Stuart Broad at third man for nine.

Richards departed lbw for 10 to hand Broad a wicket, which brought the big-hitting Samuels to the crease, and he watched his skipper reach 50 with the first six of the game.

Samuels followed suit in the next over before smashing Michael Yardy for an enormous six straight down the ground.

Gayle departed for 61 off 37 balls when he hit Collingwood straight up in the air and Broad claimed his second catch, before Samuels responded with another towering maximum.

But his luck ran out as he attempted to repeat the trick off a Collingwood slower ball and Mascarenhas took a tough catch at wide long-on to dismiss Samuels for 42 off 20 balls.

Ramdin (10) picked out Collingwood at mid-off to hand Sidebottom his first wicket, but Runako Morton did his best to maintain the run-rate with a swinging six off a Yardy full toss.

Sidebottom deceived Morton (18) with a slower ball and took a comfortable return catch before Pietersen ran out Dwayne Smith for five.

Anderson calmly bowled out the final over to return figures of 1-27 and set up England’s victory charge.