England humbled by India spinners

India 170-4 (20 overs) beat England 80 (14.4 overs) by 90 runs

England fell to their lowest total and heaviest defeat as they lost by 90 runs to India in their final World Twenty20 group match in Colombo.

England had already qualified for the next stage, but their frailties against spin were again exposed as they were bowled out for 80 in 14.4 overs.

Harbhajan Singh (4-12) and Piyush Chawla (2-13) did the damage as seven wickets tumbled for 21 runs.

India had earlier posted 170-4, with Rohit Sharma blazing an unbeaten 55.

Both sides had already secured their place in the Super Eights, but that will be scant consolation to an England side that should be alarmed at the way they capitulated to India’s spinners.

Captain Stuart Broad may also look to mistakes made in the team selection, as the slow left-arm spin of Samit Patel was omitted in favour of the pace of Tim Bresnan.

Broad saw his only spinner, Graeme Swann, return an economy rate of 4.25, while all of the fast-bowling quartet conceded more than eight runs per over.

But it would be unfair to blame the bowlers for this defeat, as England’s batsmen again wilted when faced with quality slow bowling on the subcontinent.

After spin was introduced in the sixth over, six wickets fell in the next seven, providing England with questions to answer both in the remainder of this tournament and during the tour of India later in the year.

Alex Hales and Luke Wright had already fallen playing across the line to the left-arm seam of Irfan Pathan before the spinners wreaked havoc.

With no batsman apparently able to read which way the ball was turning, Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler were both bowled trying to cut Harbhajan, while Craig Kieswetter, who had looked most likely to lead the England chase, offered a simple slip catch off Chawla.

Jonny Bairstow and Bresnan were undone trying to sweep Chawla and Harbhajan respectively, with Swann then stumped off the veteran off-spinner.

When Broad was caught in the deep off Ashok Dinda, England were in danger of being bowled out for the lowest T20 international score of all time, but were dragged past the 67 Kenya made against Ireland in 2008 by Steven Finn and Jade Dernbach.

This only served to delay the inevitable, as England’s humiliation was complete when Dernbach was run out by Lakshmipathy Balaji’s throw from short fine leg.

It was a dismal end to another one-sided World T20 contest, with the margin of India’s victory seemingly unlikely when they posted a total that was only five runs more than the average first-innings score at the R Premadasa Stadium.

Dhoni’s side looked to be running away from England when Gautam Gambhir and the impressive Virat Kohli put together a stand of 57, but their progress was checked by Swann, who had Kohli caught in the deep in the final over of his spell.

From there, Sharma took the attack to England, hitting the only six of the innings as Dernbach conceded 17 from the final over.

That looked to be enough to tip the balance in India’s favour, but the truth was they already had far too many for England.

They will have three days to regather before taking on West Indies or Ireland in the Super Eights on Thursday.

Australia beat West Indies to advance

Australia 100 (9.1 overs) bt W Indies 191-8 (20 overs) by 17 runs (D/L)

Australia are through to the Super Eight phase of the World Twenty20 thanks to a 17-run Duckworth/Lewis victory over West Indies.

Half-centuries from Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels powered the Windies to 191-8 after a slow start.

But poor bowling, and big hitting from David Warner and Shane Watson (41 not out) helped Australia surge to 100-1 off 9.1 overs when rain ended play.

The West Indies will play Ireland on Monday for the second qualifying spot.

“There was some good stuff and there was some very ordinary stuff as well,” said Australian captain George Bailey.

“The challenge is to lessen the gap between the good and the ordinary stuff. We did do that in patches, but there were certainly patches when they got away from us.”

Bailey’s opposite number Darren Sammy reflected that, “The batsmen did what was required of them. We knew Australia would come back hard, and we took too long to respond.”

The heavy Colombo rain denied spectators what could have been the most exciting finish of the tournament so far.

With nine wickets in hand, Australia were undoubtedly favourites, but with 92 runs still needed off 65 balls the contest was very much alive.

In reality, the Windies bowlers should have made things harder for Australia but they served up far too many easy pickings in the early overs.

Warner smashed four boundaries in the second over of the innings, bowled by Ravi Rampaul, and had raced to 28 off 14 balls when he was caught behind off Fidel Edwards.

The batsman took a long time to accept the decision, with replays inconclusive over whether the ball took the edge.

Starved of the strike, Watson took some time to get his score moving before finding his range against the spinners.

Spinner Sunil Narine was punished for a no-ball as Watson dispatched a free hit into the stands, and then helped himself to four straight boundaries off Samuels, the third of which slipped through Dwayne Smith’s hands at square leg and over the boundary.

Mike Hussey feasted off some loose bowling from Windies skipper Darren Sammy to reach 28 not out off 19 balls, and when the rain came, Australia were comfortably ahead of the Duckworth/Lewis par score.

The Windies’ ropey performance with the ball was in stark contrast to a showing of considerable authority with the bat.

After a shaky start in which Mitchell Starc clean bowled Dwayne Smith and only 11 runs were scored off the first three overs, Gayle got his team motoring with some fearsome hitting.

He was dropped by Watson at third man on four but made the most of his let-off by striking 18 off his next six balls.

Four sixes were to follow as the left-hander treated the crowd to his full repertoire of shots, each delivered with the minimum of footwork and the maximum of power.

He brought up his fifty off 26 balls, but was reined in by a tight over from Starc before getting out caught and bowled by Watson off a leading edge.

Samuels, a prolific run-scorer against England in their Test series in May, picked up where Gayle left off with a splendid fifty of his own which included back-to-back maximums off Watson.

Dwayne Bravo (27), Kieron Pollard (10) and Darren Sammy (12) all weighed in with quick runs as the Windies, despite losing regular wickets, kept up the momentum right to the end.

Impressive though the Windies total was, it did not prove enough to down the Australians, and Sammy’s men will need to beat Ireland on Monday to guarantee a spot in the last eight.

For more on both these stories go to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/19686227

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/19688157