PROVIDENCE, Guyana - The West Indies had another brilliant match in the ICC World T20 Tournament and have now moved into the Super Eights.
On Monday they beat England by eight wickets (Duckworth/Lewis Method) in front a packed house at the Guyana National Stadium, in a match reduced due to heavy afternoon rain. It was the Windies second win in a row following their 70-run victory over Ireland last Friday night at the same venue.
England batted first and rattled up 191-5 in their 20 overs on a placid batting pitch. In reply, West Indies then motored to 30-2 off 2.2 overs before the rain break. When play resumed the home side needed to score another 30 off 22 balls which they achieved with a ball to spare.
Left-hander Shiv Chanderpaul took the side home with 15 not out while Andre Fletcher hit a crucial boundary in the final over to end 12 not out. Skipper Chris Gayle did the big hitting with 25 including two massive sixes which disappeared into the colourful crowd.
Earlier in the day seamer Darren Sammy was the best bowler with 2-22 from four overs. He slowed down the England batsmen and picked up the key wickets of Kevin Pietersen – caught on the mid-wicket fence and skipper Paul Collingwood – bowled middle stump. It was Sammy’s second Man-of-the-Match performance of the Tournament and he put it down to hard work in the nets and positive thinking.
“Before the tournament started, the captain and the coach said that everyone had to step up and take responsibility. I have taken that on board and everytime I get the ball in my hand in keep looking for wickets and keep thinking that ‘today is my day’. I have been working really hard in the nets to improve my game and I am getting results,” he said.
“I am happy with the way I performed in this match. It was a very good pitch for batting and the England batsmen played well, so I knew I had to come in and try to slow things down. We have qualified for the Super Eights and we are all happy about that. The first stage is now over and we will move on to Barbados and look to deliver in the second phase.”
