End of Match
Preview
An England-West Indies final may not be what the organizers were hoping for, or what the pundits would have predicted. The West Indians, coming from
a miserable tour of Pakistan,
and with
rumours of internal strife,
were little favoured coming into the tournament, and few would have thought an experimental England side
with little match practice would have reached the final unbeaten. The prospect of a near empty stadium,
with the local favourites both eliminated will not worry the organizers greatly with
expenses and profits secured by TV revenue
well before the tournament started.
For both teams a win will provide a form of redemption. The West Indies played embarrasingly poorly
in Pakistan,
prompting questions about
the future of the West Indian captaincy,
and of
West Indian cricket itself.
Tired after a difficult tour of Pakistan,
missing
Curtley Ambrose,
and with a suddenly innocuous bowling attack, the West Indies came back to comfortably
beat Pakistan,
and
take advantage of a self destructive Indian team
to reach the final with ease.
Courtney Walsh
is bowling superbly, and more importantly, one of the batsmen has played a major innings in each match -
Lara
against
Pakistan,
Hooper against
England, and
Williams against
India.
No matter what the result of the final, the West Indians have shown suprising resilience for a team
that performed as poorly as any Carribean team in living memory in Pakistan.
England have already performed above the expectations of many by winning all three round robin matches. England's one
day performance overseas has been dismal, with a 6-1
thrashing in South Africa in 1995-96,
a
less than impressive World Cup performance, and a
humiliating loss to Zimbabwe.
At home, they have been stronger,
winning the Texaco Trophy 3-0,
although losing the Ashes series to Australia. The
English domestic season
is dominated by one day cricket, and the selectors attempted to put this wealth of experience on to the
International stage by
selecting a specialist one-day team.
Missing their premier strike bowlers
Dominic Cork
(still
out of favour after various
discipline and injury problems), and
Darren Gough
(on paterntiy leave),
England have stacked their team with one-day all rounders- economical medium pacers who can bat a bit and field superbly, exemplified by the young captain,
Adam Hollioake, and the Kent players
Ealham and
Fleming.
The Sharjah pitch has suited the medium pacers, and all have taken important wickets, although the batting has relied upon
Stewart.
Ally Brown
has made a welcome re-appearance as a dashing opener, and
Nick Knight
and Graeme Hick
both have something to prove to the selectors after
being left out of
the full England squad.
Their success has been a true team effort, with superb fielding, and all bowlers contributing at times.
It is hard to pick a favourite between these two. If more than one of the West Indian bats come off, England will have a
hard time keeping them in control. Early wickets were vital for England
against Pakistan
and in the round robin game
between these two,
none more so than
Dougie Brown's
dismissal of
Lara
for a duck. England will have to resist
Walsh's
opening salvoes, and avoid a tendency to mid innings collapse displayed in all three of the round robin games. At stake will be the Champion's trophy, and a restoration of confidence before these teams
meet in the Carribean in January.
Start of play
West Indies chose to bat after winning the toss, and face the
possibility of bowling with a damp ball later in the day.
England were as expected unchanged, and the West Indies chose to
play Holder for an out of form Philo Wallace. Chanderpaul would
thus open.
West Indies innings - 15 over mark
The pitch offered nothing for the quicker bowlers,
and both bats started agressively. Neither Brown or Headley
were able to maintain a consistent
line and length, and Williams in particular
took advantage of what looked like rather friendly bowling.
Chanderpaul tended to play more orthodox shots, but Williams
was wandering down the pitch to Brown, and hitting good
length balls from outside off stump.
It seemed that England were attempting to tempt
Williams to hit across the line by bowling to a full length to an
off-side field, but neither bowler
was able to bowl to order.
In the 8th over, Williams was hit in the face by a throw from Thorpe.
Williams was diving back into his crease as
Thorpe brilliantly stopped a hard hit shot.
Williams seemed shaken but was able to continue,
shortly after pulling Headley for a superb boundary through mid wicket.
Ealham came on for Brown (5 overs for 35 runs)
and immediately slowed the scoring, the slower,
more accurate medium pace being much better suited
to controlling the run rate.
When Hollioake replaced Headley, he induced Chanderpaul to hit a hard return catch,
that failed to stick. At the end of field restrictions, the West Indies
were in excellent shape at 76 for no wicket, a total that would have been higher without some brilliant work in the
field by England.
30 over mark
After a single over from Hollioake, Croft came into the attack,
and together with Ealham changed the complextion of the game.
Accurate bowling backed by sharp fielding put a stanglehold on
the West Indies openers. Williams reached an excellent 50 off 55
balls with six fours, but then, obviously frustrated, came down
the wicket to Croft, and lofted a catch to long on, well taken by Ally Brown. This
brought in Lara, who fell in astonishing fashion in the next
over. Lara was beaten on a forward defensive stroke. Alec
Stewart held the ball as Lara casually dragged his back foot on
to the line, and then effected the stumping. A clever piece of
cricket from Stewart, and inexcusably sloppy cricket from Lara
seemed to have turned the game towards England.
Chanderpaul, joined by Hooper,
was still there, batting well, and finding the gaps.
He reached his 50 and greeted Adam Hollioake with a magnificent
straight 6, incidentally winning $1000 by hitting
an advertizing board.
End of innings
As the game entered the final twenty overs the West Indies
faltered against an unlikely England hero, Mathew Fleming.
Chanderpaul was batting superbly and sensibly until he played a
ball to Fleming's right at point and started for a run. Fleming
dove, fielded the ball one handed, and hit the stumps with a
very quick throw. Chanderpaul had been sent back by Hooper, and
his dive was too late. Hooper was looking in fine form, judging
his shots well to clear the infield but drop short of the deep
field. Fleming came on to bowl with varied medium pace and
immediately struck a good length and line. Hooper, hitting
across the line was adjudged lbw by umpire Francis, and three
balls later Holder, playing his first innings of the series, was
also given out. Holder seemed to think he had edged the ball onto
his pad. Fleming was possibly unlucky to miss a third lbw victim
in the over, when Lewis looked to be caught in front.
Lewis and Simmons kept the score moving against the tight medium
paced bowling, until Fleming fooled Lewis with a yorker, and
bowled him. Rose pushed the next ball to cover and was run out
by a direct hit by Robert Croft. Simmons, aware of how few
wickets were left, played the ball around for singles, and did
not open out until the end. Hitting two fours
off the last over, Simmons was unbeaten on 39, when the innings
closed.
235 is a modest total, given the ease of the pitch and the fine
start given by Chanderpaul and Williams. England will be
pleased with a superb fielding performance, and some excellent
tight bowling from Croft, Ealham and Fleming.
England innings- 15 over mark
When the match resumed, Brown and Stewart faced a hostile
attack from Rose and Walsh. Both bowlers were able to coax more
pace and bounce out of the placid wicket than the England pace
bowlers, and Rose in particular was able to get late away-swing.
He had some difficulty finding the right line, but beat both
Brown and Stewart with fine deliveries. Brown fell to an
injudicious drive which caught a thick edge and was well caught
low down by Chanderpaul. Rose continued to cause some anxious
moments for the England bats, although both Knight and Stewart
were prepared to wait for the bad ball. As the shine went off
the ball, and the batsmen gained in confidence, batting became
easier. Stweart punished a couple of over pitched deleveries
with lofted straight drives for boundaries.
The pressure eased again as Dillon and
Simmons replaced the opening pair. Simmons, introduced into the attack
to try and match the performace of Ealham, showed that although
he is of the same pace, he lacked the control.
England innings- 30 over mark
The critical part of the England innings arrived when Lewis
replaced Simmons then Hooper, Dillon. Knight, trying to sweep
everything, survived for a while but then was run out beaten by
a quick throw to the bowler's end. Hick should have been run out
in the same over,
but Williams dropped the ball before breaking the wicket. Hick
got off the mark by despatching a Lewis long hop for 6, and
shortly afterwards Stewart reached an accomplished 50 off 62
balls. Middle order collapses are a feature of England's
batting, and Hick and Stewart fell in quick succession. Hick
pulled a short ball into the hands of Hooper at short midwicket,
and then two balls later, Stewart, on the back foot, was beaten
and bowled by Hooper, the ball keeping low. England at 107/4
suddenly had a long way to go, and with 20 overs remaining, the
run rate was up over 5 per over.
End of Match
Thorpe and Adam Hollioake provided some stabilty, looking for
the singles, with some neat running. Boundaries were hard to
come by, and Hooper and Lewis kept things tight. Rose replaced
Lewis, possibly because Lewis' round the wicket tactics were
less effective against Thorpe. Trying to accelerate, Hollioake
decided that the way to deal with Hooper was to use his feet.
After several sallies down, Hooper fired one in fast and short,
Hollioake already committed was stumped by a mile. Thorpe and
Ealham looked comfortable pushing singles, but the run rate
continued to remain at 4 an over. Walsh returned to bowl the
41st over, and Ealham attempting to hit a straight good length
ball with a cross bat over mid wicket, was comprehensively
bowled. Much rested on the shoulders of Thorpe, and two well
hit boundaries through mid-wicket raised the tempo. Thorpe
reached an invaluable 50, and hit Lewis for a straight 4 when he
was brought back into the attack. Lewis donated two extra
deliveries through no-balls at a critical time, and Simmons was equally generous
with a wide and two more no-balls.
Fleming rose to the occasion with a stinging cover drive off Simmons,
and then a sweep and straight drive off Lewis, all for boundaries.
Suddenly England were below a run a ball, and the rest was easy. Some big blows from Fleming,
run out with the scores tied, and England won with 11 balls to spare.
Thorpe, unbeaten on 66 was selected man of the match, although a strong case could be made for Fleming, who had a superb game with bat, ball and in the field.
England's victory vindicated the selector's choice of a
specialist one-day team, and more than anything else was due to
teamwork. All the players contributed, the fielding was quite
superb, and they never panicked under pressure. The West Indies
paled in comparision - not in the same class in the
field, and gave away runs with no-balls at wides at the worst
possible time. A very professional performance by a confident England squad will send them to the Carribean in good heart. The West Indies looked tired and disprited at the end, after seeing a game seemingly won, with the asking rate over 7/over, and 5 wickets down, slip away from them. There was not much between the two teams, and an interesting series is in prospect.
