WI TAKE T20 SERIES

By Corey Greaves

LED by a captain’s knock by Darren Sammy and a Man of the Match performance by Kishmar Santokie, the West Indies defeated England by six wickets and took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the T20 Series at Kensington Oval on Tuesday.

West Indies’ Chris Gayle struck some
massive sixes on his way to 36.

They say that someone’s misfortunes can be another person’s blessings, and it was just that when Santokie replaced Sunil Narine, who injured his knee in the first game on Sunday.

The left-hand swing bowler Santokie finished with one of the best bowling figures for a West Indian against England with four wickets for 21 runs.

England’s Jos Butler went on to reach his half century
and steer to the visitors to a respectable total. 

For his effort, he was awarded the Man of the Match title as he helped restrict England to 152/7 after the visitors had won the toss and elected to bat.

However, in what was beginning to look like a nail-biting finish, with the West Indies losing crucial wickets in the later overs, Sammy came to the crease with a level head to steer the team to victory alongside Dwayne Bravo.

West Indies needed 31 off the last three overs and with two overs left, they still needed 22 runs.

That is when Sammy struck Tim Bresnan, first to long off and then to long on for two venomous sixes and put the West Indies in command.

Still many thought the game would go down to the final over, however Bresnan bowled a bouncer that flew over Sammy’s head and was called a wide and the fifth ball of the over was punched through the cover region for the winning runs.

West Indies Dwayne Smith got his team
off to a flying start in the power play. 

Earlier in the West Indies innings, the two openers Chris Gayle and Dwayne Smith got them off to a flying start once again as the run rate climbed over 10 runs per over before the first wicket fell at 48.

Smith was the more aggressive of the two batsmen in the opening stages however he was also the first to be dismissed in the fifth over. He went for 30 runs off 16 balls which included two boundaries and three sixes.

The run rate started to decline dramatically after that and Gayle was to the next to go, chopping a ball on his stumps which was delivered by Ravi Bopara after struggling to get away James Tredwell.

But Sammy’s whirlwind innings secured the victory for the home team with 30 runs coming off just nine balls.

England got off to a horrid start and was reeling on 26/3 after Santokie took two of their top order batmen via the lbw route.

West Indies Chris Gayle chopping the ball onto his stumps. 

The recovery was done by Jos Butler and Alex Hales as they put on a 76 run partnership before Hales was out for 40 off 36 balls. However this partnership was aided by a number of dropped catches before one was finally hauled in.

Santokie returned for his final over to take two wickets, which included the dangerous Butler for 67 off 43 balls. Butler’s innings included five boundaries and three sixes.

The final ball of the innings also yielded a wicket as Bravo had Bresnan caught behind the wicket by wicketkeeper Dinesh Ramdin.

West Indies headed into the final game yesterday assured of the series victory and with the leverage of trying different combinations as they prepare to defend their World Cup title.


SCOREBOARD
England innings
M. Lumb lbw K. Santokie 04
A. Hales c Simmons b D Bravo 40
M. Ali lbw K. Santokie 05
E. Morgan c L Simmons b S. Badree 03
J. Butler c D Sammy b K. Santokie 67
R. Boparao c D Bravo b K. Santokie 14
L Wright not out   07
T.Bresnan c w/kpr D Ramdin b D Bravo 07
Extras (b1, lb 3, w 1) 05
TOTAL 152/7 off 20 overs
Fall of wickets: 13, 21, 26, 102, 137, 143, 152
Bowling: S. Badree 4-0-16-1, K. Santokie 4-0-21-4, M. Samuel 2-0-17-0, R. Rampaul 3-0-30-0, D. Sammy 1-0-17-0, D. Bravo 4-0-34-2, A. Russell 2-0-13-0.

West Indies innings
D. Smith c T. Bresnan b J Dernbach 30
C. Gayle b Bopara 36
M. Samuels c Hales b T Bresnan 28
L. Simmons c w/kpr J. Butler b Wright 19
A. Russell c Hales b T Bresnan 02
D. Sammy not out 30
D. Bravo not out 8
Extras: (w 2) 02
TOTAL 157/5 off 20 overs
Fall of wickets: 48, 75, 111, 116, 116
Bowling: T. Bresnan 3.5-0-51-2, J. Dernbach 3-0-30-1, J. Tredwell 4-0-27-0, R. Bopara 4-0-10-1, S. Parry 2-0-17-0, L Wright 2-0-20-1.