Alex Hales showed England could cope at Twenty20 level without Kevin Pietersen as his superb 99 saw them to a seven-wicket win over the West Indies at Trent Bridge on Sunday.
World Twenty20 champions England reached their target of 173 for the loss of three wickets, and with two balls to spare, in their first match at international level since Pietersen retired from all limited-overs internationals.
Hales’ score was the highest by an England batsman in a Twenty20 international, surpassing Eoin Morgan’s 85 not out against South Africa in Johannesburg in 2009.
Photo: AFP
The 23-year-old Hales, taking the opener’s spot that was vacated by Pietersen, faced 68 balls with four sixes and six fours on his Nottinghamshire home ground as England gave themselves a boost ahead of their World Twenty20 title defense in Sri Lanka in September, but, in sight of becoming only the seventh batsman to make a Twenty20 international century, he was yorked by fast bowler Ravi Rampaul.
His partnership of 159 with Ravi Bopara (59) was also the third highest for any wicket in all Twenty20 internationals.
“The way Alex Hales played was fantastic,” said England Twenty20 captain and Nottinghamshire colleague Stuart Broad, celebrating his 26th birthday on Sunday. “He was pretty distraught not to make his hundred and 20-odd thousand people in Trent Bridge felt the same.”
The result meant the West Indies had failed to win a single international match the tour after England won the three-match Test and one-day series by 2-0 margins.
England lost opener Craig Kieswetter early in their chase, but 1.96m-tall Hales, playing only his fifth Twenty20 international, took up the challenge by pulling Ravi Rampaul for six.
He also scored boundaries off the first balls from spinner Sunil Narine and seamer Dwyane Bravo, before lofting the paceman for his third six.
When Hales forced West Indies captain Darren Sammy square through the offside for four, he surpassed his previous Twenty20 international best of 62 not out against the West Indies at The Oval in September last year.
Hales had a lucky break when a bottom edge off Narine went for four, but there was no denying his class when he hooked Fidel Edwards for six to surpass Morgan’s mark.
England needed 17 off the last two overs, but Bopara struck two successive fours off Rampaul, the first seeing him to a 39-ball half-century.
Bopara too fell with England in sight of victory when he holed out off spinner Marlon Samuels, having been dropped on 44.
Earlier the West Indies, who slumped to 57 for three at the halfway stage, recovered to 172 for four on the back of Dwayne Smith’s Twenty20 international best 70 and all-rounder Dwayne Bravo’s 54 not out. Opener Smith’s 54-ball knock featured five sixes and five fours.
Together with Bravo, he put on 77 for the fourth wicket, before adding an unbroken 65 with Kieron Pollard (23 not out).
England, who lost the toss, struck an early blow when they removed dangerman Chris Gayle for just 2 after he top-edged a pull off a Steven Finn bouncer to Jonathan Bairstow, running round from fine-leg.
Fast-medium bowler Broad took a wicket with his first ball when, after coming on as first change, Lendl Simmons pulled him to Bairstow, running in from deep square-leg.
England’s next match is the first of a five-game one-day international series against Australia at Lord’s in London on Friday.
Arminia Bielefeld on Tuesday pulled off a major upset in the DFB-Pokal by defeating defending champions Bayer 04 Leverkusen 2-1 in their semi-final. The third-division team came from behind after Jonathan Tah gave the visitors a 17th-minute lead. Marius Worl replied three minutes later and Maximilian Groser scored Bielefeld’s second goal just before the break. The home team looked more likely to add to that tally as the Leverkusen players looked jaded. “I’m just proud of this team,” Bielefeld coach Mitch Kniat said as most of the fans the small stadium sang around him. “No one will sleep in the city tonight.” Patrik Schick went
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) have shown the team do not need star power to win trophies and with the French Ligue 1 title won with six games to spare, the French champions would look to finish the season without losing, manager Luis Enrique said on Saturday. A 1-0 victory over Angers SCO at the Parc des Princes helped PSG win their fourth straight Ligue 1 title and a record-extending 13th overall. PSG can still break Nantes’ 30-year-old record of 32 games unbeaten. Although Nantes lost one game en route to the title, no French club has ever gone an entire league
THREES KINGS: The Celtics claimed a piece of league history by setting a new record for the number of threes in a season, ending their game with 1,370 Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun on Friday combined for 65 points as the Houston Rockets halted Oklahoma City’s 11-game winning streak with a statement 125-111 victory. In a potential Western Conference finals preview, the Rockets produced a dominant all-round performance to jolt the top-seeded Thunder’s all-conquering preparations for the post-season. Green finished with 34 points from 11-of-24 shooting, while Turkish big man Sengun made 31 points as second-placed Houston improved to 51-27. Oklahoma City grabbed the lead in the opening minutes of the first quarter, but Houston soon knocked the Thunder out of their stride with a physical approach to move into the
RECORD WINNERS: The Catalan club, who are still in contention for a historic quadruple this season, are to face rivals Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final Barcelona are to face rivals Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final after Ferran Torres secured them a 1-0 win at Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, progressing 5-4 on aggregate from the semi-final tie. Record 31-time winners Barca had the better of the clash at the Metropolitano after the wild 4-4 first-leg draw. The defeat leaves Diego Simeone’s Atletico with little to play for in the rest of the season. By contrast, the Catalans are on the hunt for a potential quadruple and are unbeaten this year, stretching their run to 21 games without defeat. Atletico were the last team to triumph
RSS