Thu, 17 Mar 2011 - Engand vs West Indies, World Cup 2011, 36th match Group B - Bulletin

England prevail in thriller

England kept their world cup hope alive as they pipped West Indies by 18 runs in a humdinger of a game at Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Thursday.

Defending a relatively modest score of 243 on a pitch that appeared full of runs, English bowlers, spinners in particular, found redemption as they managed to get wickets as and when West Indian batsmen threatened to take the game away from them.

The star in this English win was young off spinner James Tredwell who bowled with subtlety to return the figures of 4 for 48 in 10 overs. Deservedly, he was named man of the match.

Introduced at a time when West Indies had gone past 50 in 6 overs, Tredwell turned the game to its head by consuming both marauding Gayle and stoic Devon Smith in his first two overs.

Later, he came back to remove dangerous-looking Andre Russell who till then had proved the biggest thorn in English flesh with a sparkling knock of 49 runs.

Tredwell was well supported by his spin-partner the experienced Graeme Swann who claimed 3 wickets including the vital wicket of Ramnaresh Sarwan.

Earlier, winning the toss and batting first England were bowled out for 243 in 49th over thanks to some disciplined fielding and bowling performances from West Indians.

Matt Prior and Andrew Strauss got England to solid 48-run start before Andre Russell removed both the openers.

Trott and Bell then took England past 100 before the magic of debutant Bishoo all but rattled the famed English middle order. Being introduced when England were looking well-settled at 121 for 2, Bishoo bowled with a great amount of wile and guile as English batsmen fell to him one after another in flurry.

Trott, who looked the best of the English batsmen on his way to 38-ball 47, fell to a slower delivery from Bishoo. He was followed by Morgan who miscued a reverse sweep and ended up giving an easy catch to Thomas behind the stumps.

England had slumped to 140 for 6 before Luke Wright staged a late fight back with a 57 ball 44 and took England to a respectable total.

Despite the win, England would still have to wait for results of other remaining matches to unfold before knowing whether they would be able to qualify for the quarterfinals.

Tredwell removes openers after a brisk start

James Tredwell justified his inclusion into the English squad with two quick wickets after Chris Gayle had threatened to blow the pomes away with a swashbuckling 21-ball 43.

Tredwell first removed the rampaging Gayle by having trapped him in front of the wicket before getting Devon Smith stumped.

Gayle looked menacing during his short stay as he smote two monstrous sixes and 4 magnificent fours.

Skipper Darren Sammy and Darren Bravo were batting together with West Indian score reading 78 for 2 in 10 overs.

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