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Chris Gayle blows away toothless England
Kensington Oval (West Indies won toss): West Indies beat England by eight wickets (D/L method)
(Gareth Copley/PA)
Paul Collingwood trudges back to the pavilion after falling to Dwayne Bravo for six
Richard Hobson, Deputy Cricket Correspondent, Bridgetown, Barbados
If Kevin Pietersen was at the end of his tether and ready to go home before the match, his colleagues must have felt the same way at the end of a brutal defeat. Not even in the great days of Viv Richards, Joel Garner and Michael Holding have West Indies been able to roll over an England side with such little resistance in a one-day international.
England must win both remaining games to reverse the 2-1 scoreline, but the manner of this loss must have a sapping effect. They were softened by a fiery, new-ball spell from Fidel Edwards, picked off by the medium pace of Dwayne Bravo and finally battered by an extraordinary assault from Chris Gayle.
The West Indies captain struck 80 from 42 balls, with eight sixes, and when the first wicket fell with the score on 98, Lendl Simmons, his fellow opener, had contributed only eight runs. Gayle played with a mix of force, ingenuity, confidence and, most of all, supreme cool. He should have been batting in shades.
Whereas England batsmen had hooked and pulled their way to oblivion like lemmings going over a cliff, Gayle cleared the ropes by huge distances. One straight drive against Dimitri Mascarenhas landed in the upper tier of the Three Ws Stand, another uppercut against James Anderson soared over third man.
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Stuart Broad, overexcited by the bounce on offer, contributed to 17 coming off the first over, while Mascarenhas was struck for three sixes by Gayle when he joined the attack. To think, by comparison, that England have hit only a single six in the series so far.
Pietersen had told an interviewer that he felt mentally drained as a result of his forced resignation as captain two months ago and said that he was ready to “do a Robinho”, a jokey reference to the Manchester City footballer, who left a training camp to return to Brazil on a family matter earlier in the year.
A third successive failure cannot have helped his sense of wellbeing, but he was not alone as England collapsed to 68 for eight on a pitch as spicy as the jerk chicken on sale. Andrew Strauss was late on an attempt to hook Edwards and Ravi Bopara appeared especially troubled by the slingy hostility of the spell.
Pietersen himself appeared thoroughly fed up walking back to the pavilion. Only Paul Collingwood could feel aggrieved as Steve Bucknor, officiating in his 180th and penultimate one-day international, gave a leg-before decision to a ball probably going down the leg side.
As a perfect foil to Edwards, Lionel Baker kept a tight grip on scoring, and the medium-pace back-up maintained the stranglehold. But some of England’s shot selection was dire.
Owais Shah and Matt Prior guided catches to backward point, while Andrew Flintoff’s return lasted six balls, at which point he pulled Dwayne Bravo to long leg.
In the context, the recovery partnership of Mascarenhas and Gareth ******************** was invaluable. At least it took England beyond their worst one-day score against West Indies — 114 made here in 1986. But even with play starting 90 minutes late because of rain, the game finished more than an hour before schedule.
England
*A J Strauss c Gayle b Edwards 2
R S Bopara c Sarwan b Edwards 10
K P Pietersen c Pollard b Bravo 3
O A Shah c Sammy b Baker 17
P D Collingwood lbw b Bravo 6
A Flintoff c Edwards b Bravo 0
†M J Prior c Sammy b Pollard 7
A D Mascarenhas c Bravo b Edwards 36
S C J Broad c Ramdin b Pollard 0
G J ******************** c Sammy b Bravo 17
J M Anderson not out 0
Extras (b 8, lb 1, w 10) 19
Total (41.3 overs) 117
Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-17, 3-41, 4-42, 5-43, 6-54, 7-68, 8-68, 9-116.
Bowling: Edwards 8.3-1-28-3; Baker 9-5-21-1; Bravo 7-1-19-4; Sammy 9-2-19-0; Pollard 6-0-16-2; Miller 2-0-5-0.
West Indies
*C H Gayle b Anderson 80
L M P Simmons not out 14
R R Sarwan b Broad 10
S Chanderpaul not out 3
Extras (b 4, nb 6) 10
Total (2 wkts, 14.4 overs) 117
K A Pollard, D J Bravo, †D Ramdin, D J G Sammy, N O Miller, L S Baker and F H Edwards did not bat.
Fall of wickets: 1-98, 2-114.
Bowling: Broad 3.4-1-31-1; Anderson 5-0-39-1; Flintoff 5-0-19-0; Mascarenhas 1-0-24-0.
Umpires: S A Bucknor and S J Davis (Australia).
Matches to come: Fourth one-day international tomorrow (in Barbados). Fifth one-day international Friday (in St Lucia).
Kensington Oval (West Indies won toss): West Indies beat England by eight wickets (D/L method)
(Gareth Copley/PA)
Paul Collingwood trudges back to the pavilion after falling to Dwayne Bravo for six
Richard Hobson, Deputy Cricket Correspondent, Bridgetown, Barbados
If Kevin Pietersen was at the end of his tether and ready to go home before the match, his colleagues must have felt the same way at the end of a brutal defeat. Not even in the great days of Viv Richards, Joel Garner and Michael Holding have West Indies been able to roll over an England side with such little resistance in a one-day international.
England must win both remaining games to reverse the 2-1 scoreline, but the manner of this loss must have a sapping effect. They were softened by a fiery, new-ball spell from Fidel Edwards, picked off by the medium pace of Dwayne Bravo and finally battered by an extraordinary assault from Chris Gayle.
The West Indies captain struck 80 from 42 balls, with eight sixes, and when the first wicket fell with the score on 98, Lendl Simmons, his fellow opener, had contributed only eight runs. Gayle played with a mix of force, ingenuity, confidence and, most of all, supreme cool. He should have been batting in shades.
Whereas England batsmen had hooked and pulled their way to oblivion like lemmings going over a cliff, Gayle cleared the ropes by huge distances. One straight drive against Dimitri Mascarenhas landed in the upper tier of the Three Ws Stand, another uppercut against James Anderson soared over third man.
Related Links
Stuart Broad, overexcited by the bounce on offer, contributed to 17 coming off the first over, while Mascarenhas was struck for three sixes by Gayle when he joined the attack. To think, by comparison, that England have hit only a single six in the series so far.
Pietersen had told an interviewer that he felt mentally drained as a result of his forced resignation as captain two months ago and said that he was ready to “do a Robinho”, a jokey reference to the Manchester City footballer, who left a training camp to return to Brazil on a family matter earlier in the year.
A third successive failure cannot have helped his sense of wellbeing, but he was not alone as England collapsed to 68 for eight on a pitch as spicy as the jerk chicken on sale. Andrew Strauss was late on an attempt to hook Edwards and Ravi Bopara appeared especially troubled by the slingy hostility of the spell.
Pietersen himself appeared thoroughly fed up walking back to the pavilion. Only Paul Collingwood could feel aggrieved as Steve Bucknor, officiating in his 180th and penultimate one-day international, gave a leg-before decision to a ball probably going down the leg side.
As a perfect foil to Edwards, Lionel Baker kept a tight grip on scoring, and the medium-pace back-up maintained the stranglehold. But some of England’s shot selection was dire.
Owais Shah and Matt Prior guided catches to backward point, while Andrew Flintoff’s return lasted six balls, at which point he pulled Dwayne Bravo to long leg.
In the context, the recovery partnership of Mascarenhas and Gareth ******************** was invaluable. At least it took England beyond their worst one-day score against West Indies — 114 made here in 1986. But even with play starting 90 minutes late because of rain, the game finished more than an hour before schedule.
England
*A J Strauss c Gayle b Edwards 2
R S Bopara c Sarwan b Edwards 10
K P Pietersen c Pollard b Bravo 3
O A Shah c Sammy b Baker 17
P D Collingwood lbw b Bravo 6
A Flintoff c Edwards b Bravo 0
†M J Prior c Sammy b Pollard 7
A D Mascarenhas c Bravo b Edwards 36
S C J Broad c Ramdin b Pollard 0
G J ******************** c Sammy b Bravo 17
J M Anderson not out 0
Extras (b 8, lb 1, w 10) 19
Total (41.3 overs) 117
Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-17, 3-41, 4-42, 5-43, 6-54, 7-68, 8-68, 9-116.
Bowling: Edwards 8.3-1-28-3; Baker 9-5-21-1; Bravo 7-1-19-4; Sammy 9-2-19-0; Pollard 6-0-16-2; Miller 2-0-5-0.
West Indies
*C H Gayle b Anderson 80
L M P Simmons not out 14
R R Sarwan b Broad 10
S Chanderpaul not out 3
Extras (b 4, nb 6) 10
Total (2 wkts, 14.4 overs) 117
K A Pollard, D J Bravo, †D Ramdin, D J G Sammy, N O Miller, L S Baker and F H Edwards did not bat.
Fall of wickets: 1-98, 2-114.
Bowling: Broad 3.4-1-31-1; Anderson 5-0-39-1; Flintoff 5-0-19-0; Mascarenhas 1-0-24-0.
Umpires: S A Bucknor and S J Davis (Australia).
Matches to come: Fourth one-day international tomorrow (in Barbados). Fifth one-day international Friday (in St Lucia).
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