Pallekele : A little-known Johnson Charles scored his maiden half-century while Chris Gayle made an aggressive fifty to help West Indies beat defending champions England by 15 runs in a Super Eights match of the ICC World Twenty20 here on Thursday.
Charles scored a belligerent 84 off just 56 balls with help of 10 well-timed fours and three sixes, while Gayle belted six fours and four sixes en route to a 35-ball 58 to lay the platform for West Indies’ total.
Chasing 180 for win, England stuttered at the start before Alex Hales and Eoin Morgan came together and stitched 107 runs for the fifth wicket in mere 58 balls to almost snatch a win from the jaws of defeat.
But it was not to be as eventually the asking proved to be too tall for Hales and Morgan, whose efforts went in vain as England finished at 164 for four. Morgan was the star for England with the bat, scoring an unbeaten 71 runs off just 36 balls with the help of four boundaries and five huge sixes.
England’s chase got off to a disastrous start as they lost their first two wickets without a run on the board.
Rampaul first dismissed Kieswetter, who looped the second delivery of the innings to Kieron Pollard at point. And then Wright gave a simple catch to Gayle at slips in the next ball to stand in with a chance of registering the first hat-trick of the tournament, which eventually eluded the pacer. Hales and Jonny Bairstow (18) did the initial resurrection for England with a 55-run fourth-wicket stand before Pollard’s brilliance in the long-on boundary cut short the partnership. A running Pollard pulled off a blinder off Gayle’s bowling to sent Bairstow packing.
But, therafeter, Hales and Morgan took the task to the opposition and gave West Indies a late scare, hitting boundaries and sixes at will to bring England closer.
Needing 39 runs off the last 12 overs, Morgan clobbered Rampaul for two huge hits over fence to bring the equation down to 23 off Marlon Samuels’ last over. But it was always a stiff task and England’s hopes ultimately perished when Hales departed in the fourth ball, stumped by Dinesh Ramdin off Samuels.
West Indies
Extras: (b1, lb7, w1)………………….9
Total: (For 5 wkts in 20 overs)…179
Fall of wickets: 1-103, 2-118,
3-128, 4-154, 5-158.
Bowling: S Finn 4-0-26-1, J Dernbach 4-0-38-1, S Broad 4-1-26-2, G Swann 3-0-32-1, S Patel 4-0-38-0, L Wright 1-0-11-0.
ENGLAND
Extras: (b1, lb1, w4)………………….6
Total: (For 4 wkts in 20 overs)…164
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-0, 3-55,
4-162
Bowling: R Rampaul 4-1-37-2, S Badree 4-0-20-0, S Narine 4-0-33-0, D Sammy 1-0-13-0, C Gayle 4-0-27-1, M Samuels 3-0-32-1.
