ICC World Twenty20 Super Eight Group E: West Indies 82-5 (8.2 ovs) bt England 161-6 (20 ovs) by five wickets under D/L method
| By Oliver Brett at The Oval |
Hosts England went from elation to despair in the space of a few minutes as West Indies eliminated them from the ICC World Twenty20 at The Oval.
Facing an adjusted target of 80 off nine overs after a rain interruption, Chris Gayle's side were teetering on the brink when they were reduced to 45-5.
But Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivanarine Chanderpaul kept their heads to see their side home on 82-5 with four balls to spare, after England had earlier made 161-6 from a full allocation of 20 overs.
In the closing stages, England battled valiantly against the wet conditions that favoured the batting side.
The ball was difficult to dry and fielding was tough but the game was very much in the balance until, with 30 wanted from the last three overs, Sarwan and Chanderpaul applied the accelerator for the final time.
Two Sarwan boundaries off James Anderson made it a gettable 16 from two, and by the time Ryan Sidebottom stepped up to bowl the final over just three runs were needed.
Chanderpaul nudged a single and Sarwan then hit a boundary over extra cover to finish with 19 not out from just nine balls.
But England would have made the target that much harder had they not struggled so much with the bat in the closing overs of their own innings.
They completely failed to capitalise on an excellent start provided by Ravi Bopara (55) and Kevin Pietersen (31).
And they also knew that by electing to bat first with thunderstorms forecast, they were also risking a situation in which West Indies would have a reduced-overs chase.
In the early exchanges, as the storm clouds emptied over everywhere else in London except SE11, England dominated.
Adil Rashid returned to the side to give them an extra spinning option with Dimitri Mascarenhas the man to make way, somewhat surprisingly since his absence robbed England of one of their few big hitters, and second most economical bowler.
West Indies lost one of their top bowlers, Fidel Edwards, to a late injury and the only genuine paceman in the side, Jerome Taylor, was kept waiting in the wings until the fifth over.
By then, Luke Wright had been and gone so quickly that Pietersen already had his eye in and Taylor was effortlessly driven straight for two boundaries, which Bopara followed up with another in the same over.
As England got through the powerplay overs in good shape on 49-1, a boisterous crowd at The Oval began the "Ing-er-land" football chant and all seemed well.
Bopara continued to play some exquisite cuts and drives, despite losing his partner when Pietersen top-edged an attempted slog sweep off Lendl Simmons to Andre Fletcher in the deep.
The 10-over score of 83-2 kept England in a strong position, and as the first flashes of lightning appeared in the distance Owais Shah struck the first six of the innings, off the out-of-sorts Taylor.
But England lost Shah to the last ball of the 12th over, thanks to a brilliant boundary catch from Fletcher, and suddenly the boundaries completely dried up.
To make matters worse, Bopara was lost into the bargain, lbw to Chris Gayle.
There had been no fours or sixes since that Shah maximum, when the first of the advertised thunderstorms made its appearance and the umpires took the players off the field on 129-4, after 16.4 overs.
 England briefly sensed victory when Ryan Sidebottom bowled Chris Gayle |
Half an hour later, England were batting again, but again boundaries proved elusive as West Indies' bowlers, led by Dwayne Bravo, did their bit with a string of near-perfect yorkers.
It was left to Stuart Broad, who positively sprinted to the wicket with positive intent to face the last two balls of the innings, to show them all how it should be done.
Broad slog-swept Benn for four and followed up with a lovely straight six to end the innings on a high, at which point the rain returned.
In a harum-scarum start to the Windies chase, three wickets fell in the first 13 balls, all to different bowlers. Each wicket was cheered vociferously, none more so than when Sidebottom rattled a yorker into the base of Gayle's stumps.
Gayle had, however, flayed three early boundaries - so the match remained a close one, particularly, after Bravo and Keiron Pollard had each hit a six.
But they fell to the spinners, leaving Guyanese duo of Sarwan and Chanderpaul to take up the fight.
Sarwan attacked Anderson with great efficiency and Broad conceded 13 runs from his final over, leaving Sidebottom with a near impossible task in the last.
Suddenly, England's rollercoaster ride in the tournament had come to an end - on the same ground and against the same opponents they lost to in the final of the Champions Trophy five years ago.
15-06-2009 at The Brit Oval
| England Innings 161 for 6 (20.0 overs) |
| West Indies Innings 82 for 5 (8.2 overs) |
Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | |||
| Bopara | lbw | b Gayle | 55 | 47 | 5 | 0 |
| L Wright | c Ramdin | b Pollard | 6 | 6 | 1 | 0 |
| Pietersen | c Fletcher | b Simmons | 31 | 19 | 5 | 0 |
| O Shah | c Fletcher | b DJ Bravo | 18 | 15 | 1 | 1 |
| Collingwood | lbw | b DJ Bravo | 11 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| J Foster | c Pollard | b Benn | 13 | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| Swann | not out | 10 | 9 | 0 | 0 | |
| Broad | not out | 10 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |
| Extras | 3w 4lb | 7 | ||||
| Total | for 6 | 161 | (20.0 ovs) | |||
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Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | |||
| Gayle | b Sidebottom | 15 | 8 | 3 | 0 | |
| Fletcher | c J Foster | b Anderson | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Simmons | c Sidebottom | b Broad | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| DJ Bravo | st J Foster | b Swann | 18 | 13 | 1 | 1 |
| Pollard | b Rashid | 9 | 6 | 0 | 1 | |
| Chanderpaul | not out | 17 | 10 | 1 | 0 | |
| Sarwan | not out | 19 | 9 | 3 | 0 | |
| Extras | 3w 1lb | 4 | ||||
| Total | for 5 | 82 | (8.2 ovs) | |||
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Umpires: Aleem Dar, R E Koertzen, R S Madugalle, R J Tucker
England: Bopara, L Wright, Pietersen, O Shah, Collingwood (C), Rashid, J Foster (W), Swann, Broad, Sidebottom, Anderson
West Indies: Gayle (C), Fletcher, Simmons, DJ Bravo, Chanderpaul, Sarwan, Pollard, Ramdin (W), Taylor, Benn, Sammy
