Cook century fires England to series win

Updated June 20, 2012 10:02:04

Captain Alastair Cook struck 112 to secure England a 2-0 one-day series win over West Indies with a match to spare after the home side defeated the visitors by eight wickets at The Oval.

Cook's fifth one-day international century and fourth as England captain, included 13 boundaries and one six and exploited almost every part of the ground.

A standing ovation led by Rolling Stone Mick Jagger greeted top scorer Cook as he made his way to the dressing room following his eventual dismissal from a Darren Sammy slower ball.

Cook's departure at 2 for 203 meant little for West Indies though, and England was poised perfectly needing only 36 runs for victory with almost 13 overs to spare.

Set a target of 239, Cook and Ian Bell, fresh from his 126 in the first match, set about their task with a opening stand of 122 from 21.2 overs.

Both cruised to their respective half-centuries before the in-form Bell (53 runs from 64 balls) chipped straight to Chris Gayle at short cover following a Darren Sammy delivery, which leapt deceptively high off the pitch.

Captain Sammy claimed the only two wickets to fall as the West Indies' attack lacked bite and failed to trouble the England batsman, who found gaps in the field at every possible opportunity.

Earlier in the day both teams observed a minute's silence and flags around the ground were at half-mast in memory of Surrey batsman Tom Maynard, 23, who was killed on Monday when he was hit by a train.

Maynard, whose father Matthew represented England, had played for the second string England Lions and had been widely tipped for full international honours.

West Indies' first innings had begun well thanks to Gayle, who was playing his first one-day international for 14 months.

Gayle smashed a quick-fire 53 in 51 balls, including five sixes, after England won the toss and put the visitors in to bat.

His dismissal LBW to off-spinner Graeme Swann, which was reviewed by the television umpire, triggered a collapse and the West Indies slumped from 63 for no wicket to 4 for 79.

Dwayne Bravo combined with Kieron Pollard (41) to put on 100 for the fifth wicket as the sunshine started to emerge from behind the clouds in London.

The pair produced some controlled hitting with Bravo top-scoring with 77 from 82 deliveries before holing out to Ravi Bopara who took a catch off the bowling of James Anderson.

Reuters

Tags: cricket, sport, england, united-kingdom

First posted June 20, 2012 08:20:37

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Ten-wicket Swann fires England to big win

Updated April 07, 2012 21:16:25

Graeme Swann claimed a match haul of 10 wickets as England roared to a series-levelling win over Sri Lanka in the second and final Test on Saturday to retain its number one ranking.

Swann followed his four wickets in the first innings with six in the second as Sri Lanka was bowled out for 278 at the stroke of lunch on the fifth day at the P. Sara Oval in Colombo.

England, set a modest target of 94, coasted home by eight wickets despite a brief stutter at 2 for 31 following the dismissals of skipper Andrew Strauss for no score and Jonathan Trott for 5.

Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen carried the tourists home with a brisk third-wicket stand of 66 in 69 balls, amid wild celebrations from some 5,000 travelling English fans at the ground.

Left-hander Cook remained unbeaten on 49 and Pietersen, who hit a century in the first innings, smashed 42 not out from 28 balls, signalling his team's emphatic victory with a six off Tillakaratne Dilshan.

"We are still number one, for a while yet, hopefully," said Strauss, who has been under pressure for both his leadership skills and his poor form with the bat.

"The most important thing was winning the game. We did not want to walk away from Sri Lanka having lost the series. I'm delighted by the way the guys reacted to the challenge.

"At the end of the day this will look like a reasonably comfortable victory, but we all know how hard we had to work for that. It's been a tough winter and we're delighted to come through at the end of it."

It was England's first win in five Tests on its Asian sojourn this year after being thrashed 3-0 by Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates and losing the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle.

The ICC confirmed that England and South Africa were level at the top of the Test charts with 116 rating points, but Strauss' men nudged ahead when the ratings were calculated beyond the decimal point.

Strauss saluted Swann, man-of-the-match Pietersen and seamer Jimmy Anderson.

"Anderson was outstanding on an unresponsive wicket, Swann proved his worth once again and Pietersen showed everyone why he is such a special talent," the skipper said.

Sri Lanka, currently ranked sixth, paid the price for not reaching 300 in either innings of the match and will remain without a series win since 2009, when it beat New Zealand at home.

Skipper Mahela Jayawardene, who ended with 354 runs in four innings at an average of 88.50 with two hundreds and a half-century, was declared the man of the series.

"We knew England would come hard at us because good players and good teams always step up to the plate," Jayawardene said.

"We made a few mistakes. It was important to get a big first-innings score, which is always so important in our part of the world. We probably fell 100 runs short.

"And then KP (Pietersen) came and turned the game around. His century shifted the momentum of the Test match. We were outplayed on the first two days and that proved the big difference."

Jayawardene paid rich tribute to Swann, saying he was one of the best spinners he had faced.

"We knew going into the series that Anderson and Swann would be the main threats because they can bowl well in any conditions," he said.

"It was a hard-fought series. We made mistakes and we have to learn from that and become more consistent going forward."

AFP

Tags: cricket, sport, sri-lanka, england, united-kingdom

First posted April 07, 2012 21:11:56

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Sehwag's record 219 fires India to victory

Updated December 09, 2011 16:21:19

Virender Sehwag smashed the highest score in one-day cricket as India flattened the West Indies by 153 runs to take a decisive 3-1 lead in the five-match series.

Sehwag hammered a scintillating 219 off 149 balls to lift India to its best one-day total of 5 for 418, before the West Indies were bowled out for 265.

Debutant leg-spinner Rahul Sharma picked up three wickets in his first three overs as the tourists were outplayed despite a defiant 96 from wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin.

Sehwag plundered 25 boundaries and seven sixes during his 149-ball blitz, joining compatriot Sachin Tendulkar as the only batsmen in history to score double-centuries in the 50-over format.

Sehwag moved past Tendulkar's 200 not out - against South Africa in Gwalior last year - in the 44th over when, on 197, he cut Andre Russell to the point fence.

He was finally dismissed in the 47th over when he was caught in the deep off Kieron Pollard and was clapped off the field by the entire West Indies team and some 30,000 jubilant home fans.

"I was cheering for Sachin when he got his double-hundred and it's great to emulate that," the 33-year-old Sehwag said.

"The pitch was great and allowed you to play your shots. I think you can get a double-hundred like this when you're experienced. The last time I played 47 overs I got 175, this time I got 200."

West Indies captain Darren Sammy said there was little his team could do to stop Sehwag's onslaught.

"Sehwag has destroyed bowlers all over the world, not only us," said Sammy.

"We bowled some good balls but he played better shots.

"The pitch was a belter but we got pegged back by their spinners. They kept taking wickets and made in hard for us. It is good that in the end we managed to get past 250."

Sehwag's blistering knock helped India surpass its previous highest one-day total of 7 for 414 against Sri Lanka in Rajkot in 2009.

It was Sehwag's 15th three-figure knock in one-day cricket and the first since making 175 against Bangladesh in the opening match of the World Cup in Dhaka in February this year.

Sehwag, who is captaining India in the series in the absence of the rested Mahendra Singh Dhoni, had managed just 46 runs in the previous three matches.

But he found the right conditions on the run-laden pitch at the Holkar stadium in Indore to strike form ahead of the Test series in Australia starting later this month.

Sehwag, who was dropped on 170 by Sammy in the covers, put on 176 for the first wicket with Gautam Gambhir (67) and 140 for the second with Suresh Raina (55).

The West Indies suffered a blow before the start when star batsman Darren Bravo was ruled out of the must-win game due to a hamstring strain.

Bravo was replaced by Kieran Powell.

The final match will be played in Chennai on Sunday.

AFP

Tags: sport, cricket, india

First posted December 08, 2011 23:42:35

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Rampaul fires Windies to vital win

Updated December 06, 2011 07:36:46

Ravi Rampaul and debutant Sunil Narine shared six wickets to bowl the West Indies to a crucial 16-run victory over India in the third one-day international in Ahmedabad.

Fast bowler Rampaul finished with 4 for 57 and off spinner Narine with 2 for 34 as the West Indies bowled India out for 244 despite Rohit Sharma's solid 95, after posting a challenging 5 for 260 in the must-win match.

India now leads 2-1 in the five-match series following its victories in the opening two games, with Monday's defeat also ending its 11-match winning streak in one-day internationals at home.

It earlier looked like India would restrict the West Indies to a modest total when the tourists reached 3 for 167 after 43 overs, but skipper Darren Sammy (41 not out) and Andre Russell (40) plundered 79 off the last 34 balls.

"It was a good fight-back from the boys, the way we batted and that spell from Rampaul," Sammy said.

"(Marlon) Samuels and Narine also bowled well and it was a team effort. Sharma tried to take it away but we stuck at it."

The hosts were reeling at 6 for 105 but Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin (31) rallied their team with a 91-run stand for the seventh wicket before Narine struck a vital blow when he trapped Ashwin leg-before.

"It is very hard to chase when your top order fails," India skipper Virender Sehwag said.

"In the last few games, the lower order is scoring more than the top order. Till the time Rohit was there, we thought we could win the game.

"Unfortunately, he got run out and missed his century too."

The West Indies also let off the Indian pair during the early stages of their stand, with Sammy dropping Ashwin off Narine and then Sharma off paceman Kemar Roach.

Sammy, however, made amends when he ran Sharma out with a direct-hit from mid-on at the non-striker's end after the batsman had cracked one six and 10 fours in his 100-ball knock.

Abhimanyu Mithun (23) and Umesh Yadav (11 not out) gave some anxious moments to the West Indies with a 28-run stand for the last wicket before Rampaul ended the innings when he trapped Mithun leg-before.

India was struggling at 2 for 8 in the second over following the first-ball dismissals of Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, with Rampaul taking both the wickets with his first two deliveries.

Narine, who was pressed into the attack after only four overs, did not have to wait long for his first wicket as he trapped in-form Virat Kohli (20) leg-before to reduce the hosts to 3 for 43.

AFP

Tags: sport, cricket, india, jamaica

First posted December 06, 2011 07:36:46

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