Thaindian News

Chennai, March 17 (IANS) The West Indies combination of searing pace and gentle spin proved a tad too much for England, who were restricted to 243 in their concluding World Cup Group B fixture here Thursday.

It was not as if the West Indies bowlers came up with anything extraordinary on a pitch that offered good bounce but otherwise held no terror. Although the Caribbean fast bowlers tended to stay early on, they tightened up to have the measure of the English batsmen.

If the West Indies fast bowlers, notably Andre Russell (4 for 49) generated appreciable pace, then their debutant leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo (3 for 34) teased and tormented the England batsmen, who also contributed to their downfall with debatable shot selections.

England, needing to win the game to keep alive their quarterfinal hopes decided to bat first, but flattered to deceive after a bright start when runs flowed freely against a wayward bowling attack.

Openers Andrew Strauss (31) and Matt Prior (21) and No.3 Jonathan Trott (47) scored at a good clip to raise visions of a big total. But thereafter, it was a familiar sight of abject submission.

Upfront, it was Andre Russell who removed the England openers when he beat Russell on sheer pace to uproot the stumps and then had Strauss top-edging an intended pull for Chris Gayle to take a well-judged catch.

The dismissals, followed by that of Trott who looked good enough for a big score, effectively opened the floodgates as wickets fell at regular intervals.

Trott offered a tame catch to Gayle at short-cover to present Bishoo, who bowled well within himself, with his maiden international wicket.

Windies skipper Darren Sammy, while keeping Bishoo on at one end, rotated his fast bowlers at the other and Kemar Roach, coming in for his second spell, castled Ian Bell (27) who missed the ball while playing inside the line.

Bishoo struck again when Eoin Morgan (7) attempted a reverse hit only to glove a catch to wicketkeeper Devon Thomas and Ravi Bopara (4) inside-edged an express delivery from Russell to have his stumps scattered.

England came off worse in the middle-overs when runs all but dried up. In fact, they went through 13.2 overs without a boundary hit as the Windies sought to tighten the screws.

However, England made a brief recovery when Luke Wright (44) and James Treadwell (9) added 41 runs for the eighth wicket when the latter was run out responding to a call for a sharp single.

A flurry of hits by Wright and later Tim Bresnan (20) gave England a fighting total as the tail-enders displayed greater commitment to hammer some useful runs that could well prove crucial in the end.