London, June 16 (IANS) Composed unbeaten knocks from Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul took West Indies to the semi-final of the World Twenty20 and shut the door on hosts England with a five-wicket win, via the Duckworth Lewis method, in a rain affected game at The Oval here Monday.
England, despite getting a good start, lost their way once again in the second half of the innings but still managed to post 161 for six in 20 overs after Ravi Bopara hit 55 off 47 balls and Kevin Pietersen scored a fluent 31 (19).
After England’s innings, rains came down heavily and West Indies were given a rain revised target of 80 from nine overs according the Duckworth-Lewis method.
West Indies skipper Chris Gayle gave a good start by blazing off to 15 runs from just eight deliveries and Dwayne Bravo kept them on course with his patient 13-ball 18.
At the end it was experience that prevailed for West Indies as both Sarwan (19 not out) and Chanderpaul (17 not out) shared a match winning 37-run stand to take them to the semis. Sarwan was also adjudged the Man of the Match for his nine-ball blitzkrieg.
Earlier, the 56-run partnership between Bopara and Pietersen raised England’s hopes of a huge total after skipper Paul Collingwood opted to bat first.
After Pietersen and Bopara departed, the boundaries dried up and it cost England heavily. England batsmen were unable to find a single boundary from the 11th over to the last two balls, which were whacked by Stuart Broad for a four and a six as England registered a competitive total.
West Indies are the second team after South Africa from Group E to qualify for the semis. Pakistan have also made the semi-finals from Group F.
—IANS–