World Twenty20, Super Eights
England vs West Indies - as it happened
England went out of the tournament as West Indies chased a revised target of 80 from nine overs on a dramatic evening. Preamble Hello. As anyone who has frequented the Guardian sport team's local, The Slug and Abject Misery, at 11.12pm on a Friday night will know, the sight of two loose cannons going at it can never fail to entertain. Fists whirring, spittle flying, homo eroticism lurking tantalizingly below the surface: it's unmissable stuff. And that's the sort of fare we have in store at The Oval this evening, when two of the most unpredictable sides in world cricket go toe to toe in for a place in the semi-finals.
That's right: staid old England aren't so staid anymore. They are brilliant one day and hopeless the next, although we hope not literally given well they played in beating India yesterday. Brunneous is the new black, the solemn acceptance of baldness is the new mulleteering and England, apparently, are the new Pakistan. With West Indies equally mercurial it really is impossible to predict what is going to happen tonight, so sit back, enjoy the ride and, if England lose, draw sweeping conclusions about how English people are pathologically incapable of playing decent Twenty20 cricket.
The last time England played what was a quarter-final in nature if not name was in 2007, when their opponents reached their target with four balls of the 20th over to spare. The only problem is that it was a 50-over contest, and that Africa at the World Cup in the Caribbean was probably the most humiliatingly emphatic in English cricket history. To match that, on a pro-rate basis, England would have to lose inside eight overs tonight. Unthinkable stuff but, when it comes to England and nadirs, it's wise to never say never.
Especially if Chris Gayle comes off. After all the brouhaha last month, this does rather have a whiff of Gayle's Revenge. He has been ominously dormant in the Super Eights, scoring at a Tavaricious strike-rate of 75 runs per 100 balls, but that surely can't continue.
Gayle is, ostensibly, every bit as integral to his side's Twenty20 fortunes as Kevin Petersen, yet that's not the case statistically. Pietersen averages 46 when England win a Twenty20 match and 17 when they lose (just like he did 24 hours ago, before he made 46 and England won). Gayle averages 38 when West Indies win and 37 when they lose, mainly because when he made the only international Twenty20 century to date, in this tournament two years ago, West Indies contrived to lose.
The moral of the story? The moral of the story is that they both have cool sunglasses, but I had them first. And then lost them in a Temple of Temporary Happiness in Kings Cross called The Lexington, shortly after a despicable karaoke attempt at Girls and Boys with the brother of esteemed cricket scribe (and, happily, once again readable on Cricinfo) Tanya Aldred.
England went out of the tournament as West Indies chased a revised target of 80 from nine overs on a dramatic evening. Preamble Hello. As anyone who has frequented the Guardian sport team's local, The Slug and Abject Misery, at 11.12pm on a Friday night will know, the sight of two loose cannons going at it can never fail to entertain. Fists whirring, spittle flying, homo eroticism lurking tantalizingly below the surface: it's unmissable stuff. And that's the sort of fare we have in store at The Oval this evening, when two of the most unpredictable sides in world cricket go toe to toe in for a place in the semi-finals.
That's right: staid old England aren't so staid anymore. They are brilliant one day and hopeless the next, although we hope not literally given well they played in beating India yesterday. Brunneous is the new black, the solemn acceptance of baldness is the new mulleteering and England, apparently, are the new Pakistan. With West Indies equally mercurial it really is impossible to predict what is going to happen tonight, so sit back, enjoy the ride and, if England lose, draw sweeping conclusions about how English people are pathologically incapable of playing decent Twenty20 cricket.
The last time England played what was a quarter-final in nature if not name was in 2007, when their opponents reached their target with four balls of the 20th over to spare. The only problem is that it was a 50-over contest, and that Africa at the World Cup in the Caribbean was probably the most humiliatingly emphatic in English cricket history. To match that, on a pro-rate basis, England would have to lose inside eight overs tonight. Unthinkable stuff but, when it comes to England and nadirs, it's wise to never say never.
Especially if Chris Gayle comes off. After all the brouhaha last month, this does rather have a whiff of Gayle's Revenge. He has been ominously dormant in the Super Eights, scoring at a Tavaricious strike-rate of 75 runs per 100 balls, but that surely can't continue.
Gayle is, ostensibly, every bit as integral to his side's Twenty20 fortunes as Kevin Petersen, yet that's not the case statistically. Pietersen averages 46 when England win a Twenty20 match and 17 when they lose (just like he did 24 hours ago, before he made 46 and England won). Gayle averages 38 when West Indies win and 37 when they lose, mainly because when he made the only international Twenty20 century to date, in this tournament two years ago, West Indies contrived to lose.
The moral of the story? The moral of the story is that they both have cool sunglasses, but I had them first. And then lost them in a Temple of Temporary Happiness in Kings Cross called The Lexington, shortly after a despicable karaoke attempt at Girls and Boys with the brother of esteemed cricket scribe (and, happily, once again readable on Cricinfo) Tanya Aldred.
England vs West Indies - What's Happened?
![England vs West Indies - What's Happened?]()
Reviewed by Imelda Pusparita
on
10:40 PM
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