England beat Windies to keep alive World Cup hopes

England kept themselves in the hunt for a quarter-final place in the World Cup with a thrilling 18-run victory over West Indies in a Group B match on Thursday.
Defending a 243-run total on a wicket that offered plenty of runs, James Tredwell (4-48) wrecked the West Indies top order while Ravi Bopara claimed two vital wickets to bowl out the Caribbean side for 225 in 44.4 overs.
Chris Gayle (43) and Darren Sammy (41) made a whirlwind start but West Indies were unable to keep up the momentum as they lost regular wickets.
Earlier, the English top order was guilty of squandering promising starts and not a single batsman could score a half-century against a West Indies attack, spearheaded by pace bowler Andre Russell (4-49) and debutant leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo (3-34), which bowled them out for 243 in 48.4 overs.
Andrew Strauss (31) and Matt Prior (21) fell before their opening stand could really blossom and even though Jonathan Trott (47) and Luke Wright (44) down the order got the starts, none could hang on till the final overs to make it count

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England set West Indies 244 to win

England stumbled to 243 all out after none of their batsmen managed to score a half-century in their must-win World Cup Group B match against West Indies on Thursday.
With their quarter-final hopes hanging in balance, skipper Andrew Strauss decided to bat first but the English batsmen squandered some good starts and folded in 48.4 overs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
England resisted the temptation to drop Matt Prior (21) down the order and sent him to open with Andrew Strauss (31).
The move seemed to have paid off until Andre Russell (4-49) struck to remove both in quick succession just when the partnership had started blooming.
None of these setbacks, however, seemed to affect next man in Jonathan Trott (47) who hit three boundaries off the first five balls he faced from Russell.
Trott looked in fantastic touch as boundaries continued to flow from his blade but Devendra Bishoo (3-34) could not be denied a memorable debut in one-day internationals.
The 25-year-old leg-spinner had his first victim in Trott who meekly chipped the ball to mid-wicket and Bishoo dealt a massive blow when he had Eoin Morgan (seven) caught behind, trying to play a cheeky reverse sweep.
Like all top order batsmen, Ian Bell (27) also got the start but could not convert it into anything significant, losing his stump to a Kemar Roach express delivery.
Down the order, Luke Wright (44) chipped in with a cameo but just when his team needed him to hang around, he fell to Bishoo.

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Posted in: world cup 2011