England win 1st ODI through D/L Method

Posted by on Mar 20, 2009 in Cricket

England have won the 1st ODI at the Providence Stadium in Guyana by sheer luck, a margin of just 1 run that too by the Duckworth/Lewis Method was all that separated the two teams.

West Indies thought they had won the match when the match was halted because of rain with the score at 244 for 7 in 46.2 overs. West Indies only came to know later that they were supposed to have scored two more runs at that stage, it was actually a basic error from their coach John Dyson who misread the Duckworth/Lewis chart and sent the wrong message to his team members.

England who batted first having won the toss posted a competitive 270 for 7 in the allotted 50 overs. The innings revolved around middle order batsmen Owais Shah (62 from 86 balls with 5 fours) and Paul Collingwood (69 from 77 balls with 6 fours). Makeshift opener Ravi Bopara had scored 43 from 62 balls at the top.

The West Indies chase was powered by a century stand between opener Lendl Simmons (62 from 105 balls with 5 fours and a six) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (57 from 77 balls with 5 fours) for the second wicket. Shivnarine Chanderpaul (46 from 30 balls with 6 fours and a six) and Kieron Pollard (42 from 36 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes) were the other significant contributors. Windies had lost crucial wickets at crucial junctures of play, especially the loss of Pollard and Ramdin in the space of three balls towards the end! For England, Stuart Broad with 3 for 41 and James Anderson with 2 for 39 bowled impressively.

The Man of the Match was Paul Collingwood who also bowled well for his 7-0-37-1 to go along with his 69.

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