England would not have tasted the three digits had it not been raining in the middle of the play when the visitors were meandering at 71/8 and it caused a short interval out of which Mascarenhas and Batty emerged jubilant to post a partnership of 48 runs for the ninth wicket. But once Batty fell shortly after they opted for the batting power play, Mascarenhas too could not fight the battle alone and the whole innings of England winded up for 117 in just 41.3 overs.

Earlier the play was delayed due to rain and the match was cut short to 44 overs a side once Windies sent the visitors to bat after winning the toss. The start was suited best for the bowlers rather, as Edwards and Baker mesmerized with a brilliant opening spell. The party began for WI in the early overs itself with captain, Strauss surrendering after a struggled 18 ball stay for 2 runs serving a running catch for Gayle off Edwards. Soon after one delivery Bopara walked his way back serving Edwards with his second scalp. Pietersen joined the party of his predecessor’s by attempting a sweep shot off Bravo which was picked by Pollard at deep midwicket.

Baker got rid off Shah (17) to claim his victim in a descent spell and another sweep shot from Flintoff marked the fall of 5th wicket. Collingwood, Prior and Broad all moved with the wind making no obstacles for Windies to make the score shrinking to 71 for 8. It looked like the sudden death of England was imminent but a five minutes break was provided by the rain and after that Mascarenhas and Batty came out determined to make it to three figures and the duo built up a 48 runs stand with out which England would have kneeled down to their smallest ever total. All that but ended with Bravo picking 4 wickets for 19 and Edwards 3 for 28 to switch off the innings for 117. Mascarenhas bravely fought to earn 36 with 3 fours out of the total 9 of his side. Batty assisted well with a sporty 17 and extras remained England’s second highest scorer at the end with a tally of 19.

It was just like a gale, oh no, Gayle coming to uproot the England side once the hosts started the chase with runs showering in the first overs with plenty of times the ball going over the ropes to the enjoyment of the spectators. Their 50 came in just 5.4 overs and Gayle took only 27 balls to find his fifty which included 4 fours and 5 lifts over the ropes. Except for Flintoff all bowlers had a bitter taste of Gayle’s outburst with Mascarenhas being the worst hit with a 24 runs over including 3 sixes. Gayle but could not finish it off as his innings was put to a halt by Anderson when he was at 80 from 43 balls with 8 sixes and 5 fours to his credit. Sarwan too put his arms down before Chanderpaul and Simmons concluded it to enjoy a 2-1 lead in the 5 match ODI series and Bravo was named the man of the match for his marvelous feat with the ball.

Comments

Add New RSS

3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

Newer news items:

Older news items: