Pietersen ton ruins Lara's farewell: Cricketnext

New Delhi: Thanks to an incredible century by Kevin Pietersen, England succeeded in snatching a great victory from the jaws of defeat in a thriller, to win by 1 wicket with one ball to spare against the West Indies in the final Super Eight match of the World Cup at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.

Kevin Pietersen’s outstanding 100 off 91 balls and then Paul Nixon’s blazing 38 off 39 balls under a pressure situation denied Lara his last shot at glory as England kept their nerves to win the nail-biting thriller.

At one stage, it looked as if England won’t be able reach the big target of 301, with the run-rate had climbed over 8 runs per over, but Man of the Match, Pietersen’s excellent knock studded with 10 fours and a six turned the tide in England’s favour.

However, after he got out, the hosts thought it was all over for the English but then Nixon came to the rescue, hitting all around the park. In one over he smashed four fours to make it 6 runs to win in 9 balls for England before getting out.

But by that time the job was done and the last wicket completed the job for England with one ball to spare.

Earlier, riding on a fine innings of 79 by Chris Gayle, the West Indies made a well-deserved 300 in 49.5 overs against England, after England put the hosts in to bat on Saturday.

However, making inroads while chasing a target of 301, Michael Vaughan led from the front to produce an excellent 79 runs off 68 balls as the other batters in Ravi Boapara and Kevin pietersen also helped in the cause by going for their shots well.

England maintained a high run rate till the 25th overs, but after Vaughan’s wicket, the downfall started and the asking run-rate kept climbing up.

Vaughan's brought up his fifty in just 33 balls and then went on to add 90 for the second wicket with Ravi Bopara.

And although, Andrew Strauss fell early for 7, while trying to flick Corey Collymore to square leg, he ended up giving a catch to Smith.

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Vaughan opened his account with a fine pull over midwicket for a boundary and quickly got into the rhythm, almost matching Chris Gayle's glitzy style of the previous innings.

Vaughan also used his feet well and hit at anything that dropped short. He hit a beautiful six going down the track to Gayle and his fifty came with a flick to fine leg.

At the other end Bopara, who was promoted to No. 3, was impressive once again. He produced consecutive boundaries off Daren Powell.

But a sharp piece of fielding from Dwayne Bravo at point and then a direct hit claimed the wicket of Bopara at his personal score of 26. Moments before Vaughan had been dropped by Marlon Samuels at cover.

Vaughan, meanwhile needed some treatment as his leg was causing problems but he somehow look comfortable running between the wickets.

Then he went on to began with another crucial partnership with Pietersen who was got into the momentum quickly, scoring easily.

The duo shared a 53 run partnership, but

then Vaughan after cutting the ball to backward point set off for the single but Bravo picked up and scored a direct hit at the striker's end.

The third umpire was called for and Vaughan was out long way.

Bravo then acted with ball to bring the curtains down on the new batsman, Paul Collingwood as England lost another wicket for 162.

Pietersen who was playing well was then joined by Andrew Flintoff but he himself being a great hitter of the ball, afiled to live up to the expectations yet again and lost his wicket to Ramnaresh Sarwan as Powell took a catch at mid-on.

In the very next over, Taylor struck . This time claiming the new batsmen in Jamie Dalrymple, leaving England suddenly trailing at 189 for 6 in 35.5 overs from a strong position.

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Then it was all up to Pietersen to drag England out of the trouble in company of the tailenders, who brought up his fifty off.

He continued playing his shots and anything loose was hit for a boundary. He took charge all alone to lead England’s revival and kept their hopes alive, while he fight his way to the climbing run-rate.

Single-handedly, he brought England so close to winning the match, besides bringing up his 100 off 91 balls, studded with 10 fours and a six.

When England needed 32 to win from 23 balls, Taylor gave the much needed respite to the West Indies by bowling out Pietersen, and the England must have thought that they lost it as Taylor topped it up as he sent back Plunkett in the same over, reducing England to 271 for 8.

But Paul Nixon straight away started off hitting and in one over of Collymore, the batsman went for three fours, while another four via a bye to make it 12 off 12 balls.

In the next over, he again hit a six and it was 6 from 9 balls and even as he got out, the last man did the job to perfection as Stuart Broad hit the winning runs for England.

Earlier, batting first, the Windies opening pair – Devon Smith and Chris Gayle frustrate the English bowlers by scoring quick runs to give a solid platform to the West Indies.

Finally, in the final match, Chris Gayle found his form and thereby went on to expose the England's bowlers by slashing most of what came to him for the big ones, letting West Indies got off to a flying start from the very beginning.

Gayle raced to his half century in just 29-balls, besides sharing West Indies’ best opening stand of 131 runs in the tournament with Devon Smith.

But when Gayle departs for 79 off 58 balls, it was the moment everyone was anxiously waiting for. And there it came, as Brian Lara made his way into the middle in his final international innings, amidst a standing ovation and a guard of honour from the England players.

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From the word go, England's bowling was exposed totally as Gayle hammed them with his marvellous stroke plays that was typically his style but was unfortunately missing in this World Cup till Saturday.

James Anderson and Liam Plunkett were proving to be so costly and that gave Vaughan enough reason to make a change in the bowling after just four overs.

But West Indies were just at the firing mode and after ten overs they were 68 without loss, guided by Gayle.

In Plunkett's fourth over the hosts went for 22 runs, including two outstanding straight sixes from Gayle.

Vaughan, then opted against taking the Powerplays, instead introduced Jamie Dalrymple in to the attack, but his very first ball was cut through point by Gayle and thereby he reached his fifty in just 29 balls.

The West Indies brought their 100 in 15 overs itself but after that England could apply some brakes to their scoring.by continuing to hold back the fielding restrictions.

Meanwhile at the other end, Smith was playing slowly by giving him most of the strikes to the more aggressive Gayle.

But then Gayle got out to Andrew Flintoff, attempting a powerful shot but it produced a thick outside edge that flew down to third man and was caught by Stuart Broad who was brought in a few yards, a few moments ago.

Hence , an incredible innings of 79 runs off 58 balls, studded with 10 boundaries and 3 sixes came to an end.

On his way to the pavilion Gayle waited on the boundary edge to put his arms around his skipper Lara, who then walked to the crease through the guard of honour with whole of the stadium giving him a standing ovation.

Being in the middle for the last time, Lara wanted to sign off on a high note as he straight away got off to his hitting mode and smashed three quick boundaries.

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In the meantime, Smith lost his wicket to Flintoff when Paul Collingwood took a remarkable catch at backward point as he sprung up, taking the ball high in the air.

But then the saddest moment arrived when the legend Brian Lara got run. Marlon Samuels pushed Stuart Broad to mid-on and called for a run, only to change his mind, which left Lara stranded and Kevin Pietersen rushed get the bails off to complete the dismissal.

And as the master headed back clearly unhappy at a score of 18, there was a warm reception from crowd as well as his colleagues on his way back for the last time.

Then another quick wicket was added in the form of Ramnaresh Sarwan off Plunkett.

However, it did not slow down the run-rate as Marlon Samuels and Shivnaraine Chanderpaul took the responsibility to keep the momentum going.

In an over of Plunkett, Samuels hit three boundaries and a six over the bowler’s head to take 24 runs. In no time, Samuels reached his fifty but just then got out scoring 51 off 39 balls by hitting 6 fours and a six, but at that stage the Windies were comfortably placed at 258 for 5 in 42.5 overs.

Soon after even Chanderpaul joined his partner in the dressing room getting out after a well made 34 off 39 balls.

And then England made sure that they take rest of the Windies wickets, yet nothing could stop the hosts from reaching 300 run mark and they ended with one ball to spare.

The high point of the match was when a capacity Kensington Oval witnessed Windies skipper Brian Lara's farewell innings though a brief one, which was also the last match for England coach Duncan Fletcher.

England, earlier made one change in their side for the match, bringing in Stuart Broad to replace Sajid Mahmood.

The World Cup moves into the semi-final stage with Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and New Zealand advancing from the Super Eights.

Teams:

West Indies: Brian Lara (captain), Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle, Keiron Pollard, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Smith, Dwayne Smith, Jerome Taylor, Ian Bradshaw, Dwayne Bravo, Corey Collymore, Daren Powell, Denesh Ramdin.

England: Michael Vaughan (captain), Andrew Flintoff, Paul Nixon, Kevin Pietersen, Liam Plunkett, Andrew Strauss, James Anderson, Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Jamie Dalrymple.

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