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LONDON, Sept 26: West Indies captain Brian Lara has urged his side to build on their victory in the ICC Champions Trophy and become a great team once more (partly reported in Sunday's edition).
West Indies beat England by two wickets on Saturday to clinch their first major trophy since the 1979 World Cup to end a dismal year on and off the field on a high. They lost seven out of eight Tests to England, at home and away, and have been ridiculed by some famous former players and in the media. But Lara hopes their dramatic victory, sealed by an unlikely ninth wicket partnership of 71 between Courtney Browne and Ian Bradshaw, will be the catalyst for an improvement in their fortunes.
"This group of guys have been battered, not just on the field but the media as well and I hope this can serve as something great," said Lara. Set 218 to win, they were dead and buried on 147-8 until, in almost complete darkness, tail enders Browne and Bradshaw conjured a stand of 75 runs in 92 balls for the ninth wicket to get West Indies up to their target with seven balls to spare.
The unlikely heroes saw off England's quickest bowlers Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison and even declined an offer to go off for bad light with 43 overs gone and the score 183-8.
After failing with the bat Flintoff had Sarwan brilliantly caught at slip with his first ball of the day as the West Indies top order crumbled. Saturday's game, in which he took three outstanding catches, could possibly be Lara's last in England and although he refused to rule himself out of another tour he said the win would be a good way to finish.
SCOREBOARD
ENGLAND:
M.E. Trescothick run out 104
V.S. Solanki c Browne b Bradshaw 4
M.P. Vaughan b Bradshaw 7
A.J. Strauss run out 18
A. Flintoff c Lara b W. Hinds 3
P.D. Collingwood c C'paul b W. Hinds 16
G.O. Jones c Lara b W. Hinds 6
A.F. Giles c Lara b Bravo 31
A.G. Wharf not out 3
D. Gough st Browne b Gayle 0
S.J. Harmison run out 2
EXTRAS (B-1, LB-7, W-15) 23
TOTAL (all out, 49.4 overs) 217
FALL OF WKTS: 1-12, 2-43, 3-84, 4-93, 5-123, 6-148, 7-211, 8-212, 9-214.
BOWLING: Bradshaw 10-1-54-2 (3w); Collymore 10-1-38-0 (3w); Gayle 9.4-0-52-1; Bravo 10-0-41-1 (9w); W.W. Hinds 10-3-24-3.
WEST INDIES:
C.H. Gayle c and b Harmison 23
W.W. Hinds c Solanki b Harmison 3
R.R. Sarwan c Strauss b Gough 5
B.C. Lara c Jones b Flintoff 14
S. Chanderpaul c Vaughan b C'wood 47
D.J.J. Bravo c Jones b Flintoff 0
R.O. Hinds c Jones b Trescothick 8
R.L. Powell c Trescothick b C'wood 14
C.O. Browne not out 35
I.D.R. Bradshaw not out 34
EXTRAS (LB-11, W-19, NB-5) 35
TOTAL (for eight wkts, 48.5 overs) 218
FALL OF WKTS: 1-19, 2-35, 3-49, 4-72, 5-80, 6-114, 7-135, 8-147.
DID NOT BAT: C.D. Collymore.
BOWLING: Gough 10-1-58-0 (5w); Harmison 10-1-34-2 (3w); Flintoff 10-0-38-3 (4nb, 2w); Wharf 9.5-0-38-0 (1nb); Trescothick 3-0-17-1 (2w); Collingwood 6-0-22-2 (1w).
RESULT: West Indies won by two wickets.
UMPIRES: R.E. Koertzen (South Africa) and S.J.A. Taufel (Australia).
TV UMPIRE: D.B. Hair (Australia).
MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Madugalle (Sri Lanka).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Ian Bradshaw.
MAN-OF-THE-TOURNAMENT: Ramnaresh Sarwan. -Agencies
