The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Shah inspires England to win

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Shah inspires England to win

LONDON: Owais Shah blazed 55 from 35 balls as England defeated West Indies in the second Twenty20 international at the Brit Oval on Friday to square the two-match series.

Shah, who was included in the one-day squad after England’s disappointing World Cup, showed great composure and a willingness to improvise in a perfectly-timed innings.

It got those runs in an anti-climactic style with five wides to win with three balls to spare.

Earlier, skipper Chris Gayle (61) and Marlon Samuels (42) had top-scored for West Indies, but England’s bowling and fielding was much tighter than it had been in Thursday’s opening game as it restricted the Windies to 169 for seven.

Ryan Sidebottom ended with the best figures, taking two wickets while restricting West Indies to just 25 runs from his four overs, while Paul Collingwood picked up the two key wickets, dismissing both Gayle and Samuels with clever variations of pace.

Ramdin reprimanded

Meanwhile, Ramdin has been reprimanded for showing dissent during the match. Match umpire Nigel Llong reported Ramdin for making a comment at the end of an over after the wicketkeeper had claimed a catch that was not given. Ramdin had celebrated catching Collingwood without even appealing to the umpire.

At a hearing after the game, Ramdin was censured by match referee Mike Procter. “The player was clearly disappointed that an appeal had been turned down by umpire Llong,” Proctor said. “But, at the end of the over, he allowed that disappointment to become dissent and that is completely unacceptable.”

The scores: West Indies 169 for seven in 20 overs (Chris Gayle 61, Marlon Samuels 42) lost to England 173 for five in 19.3 overs (Owais Shah not out 55). — Agencies