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NWS: Limp England capitulate

Monday, June 28 2004

The latest incarnation of the England one-day outfit stumbled to an uninspiring defeat at the hands of a clinical West Indian side at Trent Bridge in the third game of the NatWest ODI Series.

Winning the toss and electing to field on a pitch where early movement was promised, West Indies skipper Brian Lara's hunch was aided by irresponsible shot selection as both English openers fell to Ian Bradshaw as they attempted to work him through the onside, Marcus Trescothick hitting straight at Lara himself, cleverly positioned just forward of square leg and Michael Vaughan skying a leading edge to Ramnaresh Sarwan at wide mid-on.

Geraint Jones and Andrew Strauss then led a recovery of sorts, adding thirteen boundaries between them in an 82-run stand for the third wicket, Jones punishing anything short in length - despite being dropped by Shivnarine Chanderpaul at midwicket, diving to his right - and Strauss elegant and brutal in equal measures with his cover driving before the loss of Jones (35), bowled off bat and pad as Ravi Rampaul found extra bounce, triggered the kind of collapse England fans thought had been forgotten.

Rampaul then produced another top-drawer delivery, moving back away from Paul Collingwood as the Durham man's attempted on-drive could only find an outside edge on its way into Ridley Jacobs' gloves before Strauss (45) followed in near-identical fashion, Dwayne Bravo the bowler.

Ian Blackwell and Anthony McGrath were left at the crease at 104-5, and though each man added a stylish boundary, neither passed into double figures as first Blackwell pulled a Bravo long-hop straight at Chanderpaul at midwicket who made no mistake and then McGrath tried an over-ambitious drive to an innocuous and off-target Bravo delivery for Chris Gayle to pouch a regulation take in the slips.

Gayle should have had another catch soon after, but Jermaine Lawson was the unlucky bowler as the slip fielder didn't pick up Darren Gough's outside edge. Lawson extracted his revenge soon after, however, as Gough failed to get properly forward after adding 21 for the eighth wicket with Rikki Clarke, and was bowled through the gate to expose the English tail. Lawson struck again shortly to bowl Steve Harmison, playing down the wrong line, and Dwayne Smith was rewarded for his accurate medium pace soon after as Clarke was trapped palpably LBW trying to work him through the legside.

England's total of 147 was an indictment of a terribly laissez-faire approach to batting and concentration on the part of all bar Strauss and Jones and, whilst taking nothing away from a disciplined West Indian bowling and fielding performance, they had only themselves to blame for finishing 80 runs below par.

To keep the game a contest, England had to take wickets early - and so nearly did so, but Darren Gough was unfortunate to see both openers dropped off his bowling. Chanderpaul had made just 3 when Strauss floored him at fourth slip and Gayle had 9 to his name when Trescothick put him down above his head at second. Stephen Harmison also troubled the West Indian batting, catching helmet, thigh, shirt and armguard on the way through to keeper and slips - but never the bat as Daryl Harper made a string of excellent decisions.

With the run-rate required remaining at just three per over, the West Indies were never in deep trouble, and it was only when Chanderpaul (20) dragged a McGrath half volley onto his stumps from fully 18 inches outside off that England broke through. Dwayne Smith then failed again, chasing James Anderson without moving his feet to present Trescothick with catching practice in the slips.

England broke through once more, the same bowler/fielder combination doing the trick to account for Sarwan, as the Lancashire seamer found extra bounce to take the shoulder of the bat and the glove and send the ball looping to Trescothick. At 93-3, there was a chink of light for England, but the arrival of Lara swiftly extinguished the home crowd's hopes as he cracked six boundaries - with Gayle loosening up and adding nine of his own, it was a matter of when rather than if, and it was midway through the 33rd over when Anderson was caressed through mid-on to put England out of their suffering and claim the bonus point into the bargain.

Young all-rounder Bravo picked up the man-of-the-match award for his 3-26, and the West Indies will be full of confidence in advance of their arrival in Leeds on Thursday for their next game against the hosts. England, meanwhile, play favourites New Zealand at Chester-le-Street on Tuesday and with Andrew Flintoff out for the series, must find a solution to their badly misfiring engine room.

England 147
AJ Strauss 43, GO Jones 35
DDJ Bravo 3-26, IDR Bradshaw 2-32
West Indies 148-3
CH Gayle 60*, BC Lara 32*
JM Anderson 2-39

West Indies (6pts) beat England (0pts) by 7 wickets

CricketWeb Man of the Match: Dwayne Bravo (West Indies) - 3-26

Posted by Neil