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ENGLAND v WEST INDIES: FIRST TWENTY20 INTERNATIONAL

Colly men battered by Windies

Dean Wilson Cricket Correspondent 29/06/2007

NEW CAPTAIN, same result as England were out-gunned by the West Indies despite an heroic fightback from skipper Paul Collingwood.

Needing 60 from just 24 balls, Collingwood launched the improbable chase with 20 from one Marlon Samuels over.

Colly's mighty swipes meant England needed 23 from the final over and, in an act of desperation, the West Indies turned to Dwayne Bravo, who was supposedly too injured to bowl, and it worked.

England fell 15 short, but it was desperately unfair on Collingwood who made 80 in an inspirational captain's knock.

Samuels & Co had earlier put on a heavy-duty display that included 20 fours and eight sixes to smash an imposing 208 that always looked like being out of England's range.

Samuels followed in the footsteps of the great West Indian hitters and not even the great Viv Richards could have hit a ball harder and further than Samuels smashed Ryan Sidebottom, with the ball last seen rumbling down the Kennington Road.

Samuels' half-century from just 25 balls was the second fastest Twenty20 fifty behind Sanath Jayasuriya and it was ball murdering of the highest quality. Incredibly Samuels dedicated his fireworks to former England captain Nasser Hussain!

Samuels said: "I spoke to Nasser before the game and I told him I would do something for him to think about, so I hope he was watching that!"

After Chris Gayle's early dismissal, Devon Smith and Shivnarine Chanderpaul set the Windies on the road to amammoth score.

By the time Smith was caught by Michael Yardy he had clubbed three sixes and seven fours in his 61 yet incredibly the big hitting was still to come as Samuels and wicket-keeper Denesh Ramdin opened their shoulders.

Ramdin put Collingwood over cover for a huge six before Samuels did the same thing to the skipper straight back over his head.

With England needing more than 10 runs an over from the off, Alastair Cook and Matt Prior had no choice but to get out their golf swings and tee-off.

Prior can certainly connect with real force as two towering sixes proved, but in a bid to match Samuels he followed Cook in being caught in the fifth over to leave England 48-2 and with it all to do.

Albert Trott might be famous for being the only man to have cleared the Lord's pavilion, but his descendant Jonathan failed to clear the boundary once on his England debut before being cleaned bowled by Darren Sammy.

England needed something special from Kevin Pietersen, but after striking just two fours he was run out by his captain for 16.

With Yardy for company, Collingwood swung and connected with more than he missed to take England to the brink of glory, but in the end it was just too much for one man.

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