BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Crowd favourite Carl Hooper scored a one-ball “duck” but opener Stuart Williams lashed an unbeaten 86 to fire West Indies Masters to a four-wicket win over England, with a ball to spare on the opening night of the CLOBI Cup Twenty20 Championship here Friday.
Chasing England’s 176 for four from their allotted overs, West Indies found themselves languishing on 71 for six at the 10th over before Williams came to their rescue with a tremendous innings which rolled back the years.
The right-hander stroked nine fours and two sixes in a cameo that required a mere 54 balls and shared a pulsating, unbroken seventh wicket stand of 106 with Mahendra Nagamootoo who finished on 39 from 30 balls with two fours and two sixes.
England looked favourites to win the contest with West Indies needing 20 runs from the last over but Williams spoiled their party by smashing a series of boundaries before finishing the match with a cover-driven six.
His innings hauled West Indies around from certain defeat after seamer Glen Chapple, who grabbed two for 28, struck telling blows at the top of the order.
He trapped Sherwin Campbell lbw for three and then bowled Floyd Reifer for 14 as West Indies slipped to 33 for two in the fourth over. It sparked a slide which saw four wickets tumble for 38 runs with Hooper nicking the first ball he got from Dean Headley to Neil Fairbrother at slip.
Earlier, opener Craig White hammered 86 from 54 balls with eight fours and three sixes as England tallied a competitive score after being sent in.
Paul Nixon chipped in with an unbeaten 35 from 24 balls.
In the opening game, Vikram Rathour stroked an unbeaten 63 as India easily beat Sri Lanka by eight wickets under the Duckworth/Lewis Method in a rain-hit encounter.
The right-hander hit eight fours and two sixes off 39 balls to fire the Indians to a 129 for two, after being set a revised target of 127 off 15 overs. Amay Khurasiya scored an unbeaten 49 off 33 balls, in a 104-run for the third wicket with Rathour.
Sri Lanka had earlier tallied 158 for nine off their allotted overs with Saman Jayantha top-scoring with 61 not out off 39 balls.
