England limited to modest total

Apr 3 2009

England's hopes of setting a competitive target as they chased an historic victory over West Indies were undermined by a middle-order collapse in Friday's rain-hit final one-day international.

Aiming to become the first England side to win a one-day series in the Caribbean, the tourists had overcome the early loss of captain Andrew Strauss and were progressing impressively on 88 for two after 15 overs of a match reduced to 29 overs by the weather.

But the loss of four wickets in 34 balls halted England's momentum and they were restricted to a more modest 172 for five at the Beausejour Stadium.

The collapse began with Kevin Pietersen missing out on his first half-century of the series when he mis-timed an attempted cut off left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn and hit it straight to Darren Sammy at backward point.

Pietersen had been the driving force behind an 80-run stand with Ravi Bopara after captain Andrew Strauss had mis-timed an attempted pull of seamer Ravi Rampaul in the second over and looped the ball to square leg.

The Hampshire batsman dominated that partnership, hitting 48 off as many balls including a six and four fours to put the tourists firmly on course for an imposing total having scored only 32 runs in his previous three innings in the series.

But Pietersen's demise sparked another mini-collapse with Bopara falling three overs later for a determined 44 from 49 balls, attempting to pull a full-length delivery from Kieron Pollard which flew high in the air and was collected by wicketkeeper Dinesh Ramdin.

Owais Shah fell in the next over when he attempted to loft Benn, who was brought into the side as a replacement for side-strain victim Nikita Miller, over long on but picked out Lendl Simmons.

Andrew Flintoff, who passed a fitness test on his bruised left thumb to play, lasted only six balls before also falling when he advanced down the wicket to Pollard and played the ball off his hip only for Shivnarine Chanderpaul to take a superb diving catch at mid-wicket.

At 112 for five with just eight overs remaining, England were in danger of struggling to even reach 150 but Paul Collingwood combined with Matt Prior in a crucial 60-run stand, including 30 off the final three overs.