England warmed up for Saturday's NatWest Series final against Zimbabwe by
narrowly losing a thrilling contest to the West Indies by just 3 runs - Alec
Stewart remaining not out on exactly 100.
Having restricted the visitors to 195-9 from their 50 overs England were
expecting to pick up their fourth straight win of the competition.
Somerset's Marcus Trescothick began in the same confident manner which has
accompanied his entry into the international fold, driving Reon King through
the covers off the first ball of the innings. A second boundary in the over
and another in Mervyn Dillon's first over (courtesy of a Franklyn Rose
misfield) immediately put the West Indies on the back foot but in the third
over they came close to dismissing Alec Stewart.
A legside ball from King was flicked at by Stewart and wicketkeeper Ridley
Jacobs, diving to his left, claimed the catch. Umpires Kitchen and
Leadbeater conferred and referred the decision to the replay booth to see if
the ball had carried. A lengthy delay occurred before the verdict was given
in favour of the batsman.
Runs flow in the sunshine
The next over, the fourth, was bowled by Dillon to Stewart, and provided the
game's first maiden but the flow of runs wasn't interrupted for long as
England reach 38 without loss by the 8th over. The sun-drenched crowd then
kept themselves amused with the 'Mexican Wave' whilst Stewart greeted Rose's
introduction into the attack with pulls for 2 and 4.
Trescothick had been kept fairly quiet for a while and when King gave him
room outside the off stump his frustration brought a rash stroke and his
downfall - Jacobs taking a routine catch behind the stumps. The left hander
had faced 36 balls for his 23 and hit five fours and he and Stewart had put
on 46 for the first wicket.
As in the last two matches Andrew Flintoff appeared at no. 3 in the England
order. Confidently off the mark first ball, he too perished to the
Jacobs/King combination after playing a loose slash. The West Indies sensed
an opening and this intensified when Graeme Hick was dismissed first ball,
with an inside edge onto his off stump. Reon King had taken 3-2 in eight
balls and reduced England to 49-3 - Graham Thorpe successfully negotiated
the hat-trick delivery, pushing it to cover.
Accuracy of Rose's throw
Stewart's pre-delivery routine of twirling the bat around now involves a
touch of the helmet with his right glove but his batting certainly remained
orthodox as he looked to add to the century he hit at Edgbaston on Tuesday.
Once the 15 over fielding restrictions had been lifted Jimmy Adams turned to
his leg spinner Nagamootoo and was rewarded in his first over. Thorpe
hesitated when turning for a second run and the accuracy of Rose's throw
from the deep proved fatal.
England's plight worsened when Hussain only made 5 before edging Nagamootoo
to Jacobs and the West Indies celebrated when they thought they'd got Craig
White in a similar fashion but umpire Leadbeater was unmoved.
Stewart moved on to his half century, coming off 86 balls, with 7x4s and the
total passed 100 shortly afterwards, coming in the 30th over.
Stewart and White put on 63 for the 6th wicket and it looked to have
stabilised the England cause but the introduction of Adams resulted in
another run out and the departure of White for 19. Ricardo Powell's throw
from deep backward point found him inches short of his crease. England still
needed 58 with just 4 wickets left.
Run a ball rate required
Adams switched his bowlers around. With the run rate rising to almost a run
a ball England were grateful for Stewart's ability to rotate the strike and
to punish bad balls.
33 were needed from 36 balls when Ealham pulled Rose for four and that
looked to have confirmed England's victory charge but then the Kent
all-rounder seemed to throw his wicket away, hoiking across the line and
offering a simple chance to Chris Gayle.
Home hero Paul Franks made his way to the wicket with England needed 26 to
win from 31 deliveries and he scored his first run for his country by
pushing Nagamootoo to long on. Stewart reached 89 to become the first
batsman in the tournament to reach 300 runs.
An on-driven boundary from the bowling of King took the Surrey player to 98,
leaving 12 to win from 3 overs. Stewart's second successive one-day century
arrived in the 49th over - from the 146th delivery he'd faced, having hit
eleven 4's. This was his 4th one-day hundred.
Nevertheless the West Indies took the match into the final over. England
needing 5 to win had Franks on strike, to face the spin of Chris Gayle. As
the two batsmen tried to scamper a leg bye from the first ball Nagamootoo
shied at the bowlers end and a direct hit ran out Franks for 4. The plus for
England was that Stewart had regained the strike but he could only muster a
leg bye from the next ball. Darren Gough had 4 balls to score 4 runs but he
played all around a full toss and was bowled first ball.
Alan Mullally's batting pedigree is well known and Chris Gayle was able to
snare him lbw from the penultimate delivery to leave the West Indies victors
by 3 runs. Alec Stewart remained undefeated on exactly 100. Gayle had
finished with 2-21 but the pick of the bowlers was King with 3-30.
Earlier the West Indies' innings had closed on 195-9 with Chris Gayle top
scoring with 37 - Jimmy Adams made 36. Craig White led the wicket-takers
with 3-35, whilst there were 2 wickets apiece for Darren Gough and Mark
Ealham.