Dire WI routed by Derbyshire

Another dire performance by West Indies prolonged the spectacle of debacle on their tour of England, as the tourists were humiliated by Derbyshire in their Twenty20 tour match. Tom Lungley and Ant Botha took 4 wickets each, and the West Indians crumbled to 84 all out chasing a moderate target of 136 for victory.

Uncapped Austin Richards topscored with 25 from 33 balls, but only Dwayne Bravo and Dwayne Smith otherwise reached double figures. The allrounders scored 12 and 13 respectively. Without the batting of injured Ramnaresh Sarwan and the retired Brian Lara, and with Shivnarine Chanderpaul rested for the fixture, it was an awkward lineup posed by the West Indians. The admittedly inexperienced team showed little structure and heart against a Derbyshire unit hardly acclaimed for its world-beating prowess.

Derbyshire took full advantage of their opponents uncertainty, and Lungley (4-11), Botha (4-14) and Dean 2-24 shared all 10 wickets in the space of 15.4 overs for the innings.

With the ball the West Indians were better, restricting Derbyshire to 135-6 in their 20 overs. Australian Simon Katich topscored in the innings and match with 31 from 28 balls, while Chris Taylor played a steady hand of 28 unbeaten. Gayle (2-14) took the wickets of Katich and Pipe crucially late in the innings, helping in the effort of restriction.

Expectations of a chase of 136 would typically see the international outfit winning through, even in a 20-over fixture. But it was clear who the better side was on the day, and a further embarrassment for West Indies sees a difficult road heading into the limited overs fixtures against England. This especially under new captain Chris Gayle, who was bowled for 4.

Derbyshire 135-6 (20 overs)
Simon Katich 31, Chris Taylor 28*, Michael Dighton 27
Chris Gayle 2-14, Ravi Rampaul 1-21

West Indians 84 (15.4 overs)
Austin Richards 25, Dwayne Smith 13, Dwayne Bravo 12
Tom Lungley 4-11, Ant Botha 4-14

Derbyshire won by 51 runs.