• Home
• /
• Cricket

Sarwan, Chanderpaul send England packing

LONDON - West Indies advanced to the Twenty20 World Cup semi-finals after knocking out England in a rain reduced second-round match on Monday.

Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, their two most experienced batsmen, took their team to a new target of 80 from nine overs with five wickets and four balls to spare.

Sarwan, named man-of-the-match, scored 19 not out with three fours from nine balls and Chanderpaul 17 from 10.

Cheered on by a noisy home crowd, England reduced West Indies to 45 for five from 5.2 overs before the veterans took control.

“We couldn’t have a better situation to have the two most experienced batsmen in,” West Indies captain Chris Gayle told a news conference.

“Both of us are experienced players, we have been here before,” Sarwan added.

England captain Paul Collingwood said his team thought they had the game won as the wickets tumbled.

“But it’s not easy defending a target like that from eight overs,” he said.

The host nation lost their way after Kevin Pietersen was dismissed for 31 from 19 balls, finishing their 20 overs on 161 for six.

Pietersen was in sublime form, cracking his first ball from Kieron Pollard to the mid-wicket boundary and flicking his second wristily to leg for another four.

He guided an on-drive off Jerome Taylor past the bowler for four and appeared poised for a match-winning innings before lofting Lendl Simmons to mid-wicket. Andre Fletcher steadied himself for the catch, held the ball safely and hurled it high in the air.

England did not score a boundary from when Owais Shah (18) hit a six in the 11^th over until Stuart Broad cracked a four and a six off the final two balls of the innings. Ravi Bopara top-scored with 55.

“They lost crucial wickets at crucial times,” Gayle said. “They lacked hitters down the order.”