LONDON, CMC – An unbroken, sixth-wicket stand of 37 between Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul limped West Indies to a five-wicket victory – under the Duckworth-Lewis Method – yesterday to earn them a place in the semi-finals of the Twenty20 World Cup, and fittingly eliminate hosts England.
Sarwan stroked 19 not out from nine balls, and compatriot Chanderpaul gathered 17 not out, as West Indies successfully chased a revised target of 80 from nine overs following a near hour-long stoppage for rain in their Group-E match at The Oval.
Sarwan struck Ryan Sidebottom for the last of his three boundaries over extra cover to formalise the result with four balls to spare, and also earned the Man-of-the-Match award.
The result means that West Indies will advance to the semi-final, where they will face the top team from Group-F which is likely to be Sri Lanka – a side which beat them in the group stage of the competition – on Friday at the same venue.
The final match-ups will be confirmed following Tuesday’s final set of Super Eight matches at Trent Bridge, where South Africa face India, and Sri Lanka meet New Zealand.
Rain delayed the start of West Indies’ chase, after they defied the loss of key strike bowler Fidel Edwards only minutes before the toss, and restricted England to 161 for six from their full allocation of 20 overs.
But the Caribbean side was soon wobbling on 45 for five in the sixth over, when Sarwan joined compatriot Chanderpaul at the crease.
Sarwan eased the tension, when he struck his first two boundaries from the third and fourth deliveries of the seventh over from James Anderson to shorten the odds.
But West Indies knew the match was theirs, when Chanderpaul clipped the fifth ball of the penultimate over from Stuart Broad to the deep backward square leg boundary for his only boundary to leave the equation four runs from seven balls.
Edwards had hurt his back, when warming up prior to the match, and this upset West Indies’ plans.
But Kieron Pollard, who shared the new ball with Darren Sammy, struck early, when he had Luke Wright caught behind for six in the second over.
West Indies were put on their heels, when Kevin Pietersen joined Ravi Bopara, and they went on the rampage to add 56 from 51 balls for the second wicket.
Lendl Simmons provided the breakthrough, when Pietersen was caught inside the deep backward square leg boundary for 31 from 19 balls.
Dwayne Bravo had Owais Shah caught at deep square leg in the 12th over, when the England batsmen pulled a short ball, and Andre Fletcher timed his leap perfectly to take it high above his head with both hands.
After this, West Indies maintained control of the scoring rate with their captain Chris Gayle setting defensive fields, and their attack bowling steadily, if not menacingly.
Either side of a half-hour stoppage for rain, Gayle had Bopara lbw for the top score of 55 from 47 balls, Bravo also claimed Collingwood lbw for 11, and James Foster was caught at long-on for 13 off Sulieman Benn, whose last two deliveries – the last two of the England innings – were struck for a four and a six by Broad.
West Indies too, suffered an early setback, when Andre Fletcher was caught behind off Anderson for a duck top-edging a pull at a short ball in the first over.
Next over, Gayle was bowled for 15, when he drove over a full length delivery from Ryan Sidebottom, and the following over, Simmons was caught at third man off Broad for a duck.
West Indies were 16 for three in the third over, but Bravo and Pollard got West Indies moving before they fell in the space of five balls.
Pollard was bowled for nine, when he charged leg-spinner Adil Rashid, and played across the line in the fifth over, and Bravo was stumped for 18 in the next over off Graeme Swann, when he overbalanced out of his crease essaying a lofted drive.
But Sarwan and Chanderpaul drew on their combined experience of nearly 25 years of international cricket to help West Indies trump England for the first time in the two months they have spent here.
