Ramnaresh Sarwan hit 59 from 46 balls to propel the West Indies to a six-wicket victory over England in their Twenty20 International at Queen’s Park Oval on Sunday.
England were bowled out for just 121 in 19.1 overs after they were sent in to bat and the West Indies replied strongly with 123 for four from 18 overs.
“Pretty obviously [the main problems lay] with the bat — you don’t win too many Twenty20s having scored 121,” England skipper Andrew Strauss said.
PHOTO: AP
“We lost wickets too regularly and we weren’t smart enough with our batting to be honest. We weren’t ever able to put pressure on the West Indies with the ball. It’s just disappointing the way we batted,” he said. “If we had got to 150 that would have been a decent score.”
England, who have already lost the Test series, were undermined by disciplined West Indies bowling and alert fielding that accounted for three run outs.
International newcomer Steven Davies led the way for England with 27 from 21 balls and Strauss scored 22 from 25 balls. But England’s innings never got into gear and they lost their last four wickets for seven runs in the space of 14 balls.
Spinner Sulieman Benn took three for 24 from four overs to be the leading West Indies bowler.
After Ravi Bopara was bowled by Lionel Baker in the fourth over, England, thanks to Davies, raced to 55 for one in the eighth over.
But Davies and Kevin Pietersen were dismissed in successive overs, and England’s effort was not helped when Dimitri Mascarenhas, Strauss, and Gareth Batty were all needlessly run out.
Stuart Broad removed Andre Fletcher in the second over to give England a bright start when they took to the field, but stalwarts Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul carried the West Indies to 45 for one in the fifth over.
James Anderson had Chanderpaul caught at square cover before Lendl Simmons and Sarwan put the Windies firmly on course with a stand of 60 for the third wicket.
Amjad Khan removed Sarwan in the 16th over and had Dwayne Bravo caught at mid-wicket two overs later before Kieron Pollard sealed the victory when he swung a short, rising ball from the same bowler through mid-wicket for four.
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