Andrew Strauss gathered 79 from 61 balls to lead England to a nine-wicket victory under the Duckworth-Lewis Method over the West Indies in the rain-affected fourth one-day international at Kensington Oval on Sunday.
Fortune and the D/L Method again smiled on England, following a two-hour long delay for rain that left the tourists with a victory target of 135 from 20 overs. They got over the line with nine balls to spare, when Strauss guided Dwayne Bravo to third man for his ninth four.
THRILLS TO COME
PHOTO: AP
The result means the series is now tied 2-2 and sets up a thrilling conclusion on Friday at the Beausejour Cricket Ground in St Lucia, if West Indies players back down from their threat to strike in protest to outstanding issues with the West Indies Cricket Board.
The rain started in the interval between innings after England sent the West Indies in to bat and the home team made 239 for nine from 50 overs.
SOLID BASE
When play resumed, England were given a solid base of 108 off 87 balls from their captain Strauss and fellow opener Ravi Bopara.
Strauss reached his 50 from 41 balls, when he chipped Kieron Pollard into square leg for a single.
Once he and Bopara set things up with a volley of handsome strokes and nimble running between the wickets, the rest was academic, although they lost Bopara for 35 skying a catch to deep fine leg off Pollard, when 27 were needed from 33 balls.
Earlier, England had been upstaged when Bravo gathered 69 from 72 balls to give a late boost to the West Indies total.
England had recovered from another hammering from Chris Gayle and looked in control when the West Indies slumped to 145 for six in the 35th over.
But the tourists were again put on the defensive when Bravo boosted the West Indies total with an innings that included seven fours and two sixes. Had Andrew Flintoff held a sharp return chance, when Bravo was on 32 in the 42nd over, the script could have been slightly different.
ANDERSON SMOTE
England paid for Flintoff’s miss in the late over when Bravo smote James Anderson over mid-wicket for four to reach his 50 from 61 balls and then struck the next ball in the same direction for a six before Stuart Broad skied Stuart Broad to deep mid-wicket in the 48th over.
England’s bowlers had again been savaged early when Gayle raced to 46 from 39 balls in an opening stand of 72 before Broad made the breakthrough in the 13th over, having caught by keeper Matt Prior.
Marloon Herrera was crying — happy tears. With Cuba trailing in the fifth inning of its Little League World Series (LLWS) opener on Thursday, Herrera lined a two-run double to give his team the lead. When the Czech Republic, representing Europe-Africa, made a pitching change, he ran over to give his third base coach a hug. Cuba went on to win 4-1. It was the first game at this year’s tournament for both sides, but it was also the beginning of Cuba’s second appearance in the series ever — and it was emotional. “You breathe baseball in Cuba,” manager Everaldo Machado said on
Taiwan on Friday beat Australia 11-0 at the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Taiwan are represented at the tournament by Taoyuan’s Gueishan Elementary School, who won the Asia-Pacific regional tournament to earn the trip to the US. Australia are represented by the Hills Red team from Sydney. Taiwan advanced to a game tomorrow against Santa Clara, representing Cuba, who won 4-1 against the Czech Republic’s Brno, the Europe-Africa regional qualifiers. Australian starter Sayre Howick had a tough time controlling his pitches at Volunteer Stadium, one of which allowed Taiwan to open their account. They scored six in the inning and
World Boxing, an international amateur boxing organization formed last year after a breakdown in relations between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Boxing Association (IBA), has announced the admission of Taiwan, along with four other nations, into its growing list of members. In a statement released on its Web site on Friday, the Swiss- based organization said that in addition to Taiwan, admitted as Chinese Taipei, Bhutan, Ecuador, Fiji and Pakistan have also become members. The new members all have well-rounded national and international boxing programs as well as transparency in the leadership and management of their national boxing programs,
COOLED DOWN: Du Plessis apologized after the fight for comments about his Nigerian-born opponent, after Adesanya said he planned to take the belt back to Africa South African Dricus du Plessis yesterday took a flurry of body hits across four rounds before defeating Israel Adesanya by submission to retain his middleweight championship at UFC 305. After scoring some early takedowns, Du Plessis (22-2) had to withstand a flurry of body strikes from Adesanya through the middle rounds, which appeared to be taking a toll on the 30-year-old South African as the fight progressed. However, a left hook followed by three rights helped bring Adesanya down, giving Du Plessis the opening he wanted as he swiftly got the choke hold that forced the Nigerian-born New Zealander to tap out