The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : England wins opener

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 20, 2004

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Sport - Cricket

England wins opener

GEORGETOWN, APRIL 19. Chris Read smashed three sixes in a 27 off 15 balls to blast England to a two-wicket win over the West Indies in a reduced-overs opening one-day international at Bourda on Sunday.

The 25-year-old wicketkeeper posted 18 runs from Corey Collymore's penultimate over as the tourist passed West Indies' total of 156 for five off 30 overs with three balls remaining.

With England needing 21 runs from two overs, Read smacked six, four, six off Collymore's third, fourth and fifth deliveries to tilt the balance in favour of the visitor.

Also left-hander Ian Blackwell's 27 off 21 deliveries helped boost the England team's winning chances. The Somerset man clouted two sixes and one four.

Gayle led the West Indian bowling with three for 20 off 5.3 overs. Dwayne Bravo, on debut, was impressive in taking two for 31 off six overs.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul earlier spearheaded the home team's batting with 84 off 96 balls. The left-handed opener lashed 11 fours and two sixes.

Chanderpaul, the 29-year-old Guyanese national returning to the team after missing the fourth and final Test in Antigua last week because of fatigue, delighted his capacity home crowd of 10,000 with a dominant display of hitting after a sluggish start.

An outfield made soft and muddy by heavy rain on Friday, delayed the start of the match for four hours and cut the match from 50 overs an innings to 30.

England held the upper hand through the first 20 overs as West Indies struggled to 78 for four.

Chanderpaul took 52 balls to muster his first 10 runs before opening out with a volley of strokes that yielded his next 74 runs from 44 balls.

He lost opening partner Gayle for two to Gough. When Ricardo Powell (10) and stand-in captain Ramnaresh Sarwan (0) fell in Andy Flintoff's first over, the West Indies was struggling at 25 for three.

Chanderpaul was out in the 29th over, hitting a full toss to extra cover off Gough who marked his return to action after a layoff of 10 months when the selectors ignored his experience of 188 wickets in 121 one-day matches with two for 22 off his allocated six overs. Flintoff had the same figures.

The second one-day game in the series of seven matches is at the Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad on Saturday. — AP

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