England's Mr reliable Kevin Pietersen soured Brian Lara's last international
match as England survived an edge-of-the-seat thriller to beat West Indies
by one wicket in the final Super Eight match of the Cricket World Cup here.
According to the sources, Kevin Pietersen's superb 100
helped England to their target of 301 with one ball to spare after out-of-form
Michael Vaughan (79) scored his first fifty of the campaign.
Kevin first hit the stumps to effect Lara's run out following a horrendous
mix-up with Marlon Samuels and then the maverick batsman went on to slam a 91-ball
knock of 100 to set England on the course for a thrilling win.
England skipper Michael Vaughan won the toss and put West Indies
into bat. The host West Indies posted an imposing 300 in 49.5 overs before losing
all their wickets. Chris Gayle (79) and Devon Smith (61) gave the hosts a flying
start before Samuels (51), guilty of the ill-judged call that ended Lara's stay
in the middle, chipped in to help the hosts clear the 300-run mark.
Lara needed 17 balls to score 18 and as he started his walk back to the pavilion,
players started clapping and the entire stadium gave him a standing ovation
again.
As if to atone for the blunder, Samuels soon opened up and
raced to his fifty in 37 balls with the help of six fours and a six. Two balls
and one run later,
Collingwood again plucked a brilliant catch at short midwicket
to remove Samuels but West Indies looked well placed at 258 for five in the
43rd over.
The hosts in fact could have further swelled their total but for their brittle
lower half, which could not make the most of the advantage they had. To make
it worse, Flintoff effected two run outs in the final over to drop curtains
on the hosts' innings.
For England, Michael Vaughan claimed three for 39, while Flintoff
grabbed two for 59.
In reply, England huffed and puffed their way and lost nine
wickets before reaching the target with one ball to spare. After captain Michael
Vaughan (79) and Pietersen made handsome contributions up the order, the pugnacious
Paul Nixon (38 off 39 balls) proved his worth again and his lusty hits took
England to the vicinity of an exciting win.
Pietersen's heroic knock, which came off 91 balls and included
10 fours besides a six, earned him the Man of the Match award.
England thus ended their World Cup campaign finishing fifth,
while the West Indies came sixth.
Though both the teams had the semifinal door slammed on their
face, Saturday's inconsequential battle saw a full house at the 25,000-strong
Kensington Oval primarily because it was Lara's last match.
With enough runs on the board, West Indies pacers could have
presented their outgoing captain a farewell gift but instead, they leaked runs
and put up an erratic show to let down Lara.
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