THE West Indies became the second  team behind India in this year’s International Cricket Council’s (ICC) World Twenty20 to advance to ‘Super 8’ stage of the competition with their eight- wicket Duckworth/Lewis win over arch rivals England. Playing in front of a capacity crowd at the Guyana National Stadium, West Indies captain Chris Gayle won the toss and elected to send Paul Collingwood and his English side to the crease first where they made 191/5 off the allotted 20 overs.
But thanks to the sporadic rainfall which is being experienced, the heavens opened when Gayle and his side were on a roll and a revised target was set using the Duckworth/Lewis method in which the home side triumphed.
Speaking at the game’s post-match press conference, Gayle dedicated his side’s win over England to the Guyanese people whom he said have been very inspirational to West Indies team.
It was the second day that the National Stadium was sold out for the Windies match and yesterday under the wet conditions, Gayle said, “Well the victory actually goes to them because they stuck around in the rain for a long period of time and we give them the victory. I’m happy that they got something to cheer about because they are very passionate about their cricket and I’m very happy we came out on top.”
“We knew that the weather is going to play a part,” the towering Jamaican left-hander said and further mentioned that they “knew that the first five overs is going to determine the game, so we went out there with a plan to see what we can get off the first five overs.
The target was about 43 at that stage, and it was actually in our favour, but after the game was reduced we know that it was more than likely that we would win from then.”
Meanwhile, the England captain has voiced his concerns over the D/L method in the game’s shortest format, stating that “it’s very frustrating to the team because tonight (last night) we played a perfect game, we batted well but the D/L method had other ideas, so we’ll just have to bounce back tomorrow (today).
However, the winning captain Gayle, though somewhat sympathising with his English foe, believes that “it’s something that they can look into. I could have been in the same position like him (Paul Collingwood) so they could look into it or it can be an even Stephen, so we’ll see how it looks in the future and what they (ICC) can or will do.”
Today’s clashes will see a bitter shootout between England and Ireland especially given the fact both sides are a match down and the only way into the Super 8 round to join the West Indies is by coming out with a win.
Their rivalry in cricket goes way back to the early 1800s when the game was introduced to the Irish ironically by the English. Before that match, a group B clash between New Zealand and Zimbabwe will take place.