MAULER SHAH USHERS IN NEW ERA FOR ENGLAND! ISH.
By The Third Umpire
A brilliant 50 off 31 balls from a crazy-looking Mauler Shah saw England home with two balls to spare in the second T20 with the Windies at the Oval.
England levelled the series with 'new' boys The Mauler and Dimmy Mascarenhas (18) carrying them through from 104/5 to reach their target of 170.
(Let no-one mention that the Mauler made his ODI debut back in 2001. This is the All-New England, readers).
When the pair came together England were under the cosh: Daren Powell (1/24) had suddenly started bowling at 90 mph and with skipper Gayle rotating his bowlers cleverly, the Windies were in the box-seat.
Cheese Prior again came out and batted as if his trousers were on fire: his 22 off 14 was entertaining but he went for one big shot too many and was skittled by Ravi Rampaul. KP (19) was foxed by a slower ball from Sammy and when spinner Marlon Samuels had skipper Colly stumped off a ball he'd speared in at 78 mph, the game looked up for England.
At that point, they needed 64 off six - but Shah played a brilliant finisher's innings to win the match, finishing on 55 off 35 balls.
England had been criticised for not having enough six-hitters in their line-up (mainly by me). But it was Shah's scampered twos and clever paddles and nudges to the boundary that put the Windies behind the eight ball here.
With England needing 40 off the last four overs, Mauler - twitching, grimacing and staring throughout, like the most nervous man in the world - took 16 off the 17th over from Samuels, to give the home side the edge.
Skipper Gayle brought himself on, for the first time, to bowl the last over - but England needed just six and the end came when Gayle's wide off the fourth ball went down to the boundary for four.
Earlier, England had bowled much more tightly as the side adjusted to the demands of T20.
Someone had obviously told the bowlers to vary the pace - and a series of slower balls from Sidey and Colly brought key wickets.
The Windies were without the injured Crab Chanderpaul and Devon 'no nickname' Smith, bringing in rookie replacements - Lendl Simmons and Austin Richards - the tourists were seriously weakened.
But Gayle hit 61 off 37 leading from the front, with Samuels (42 off 20) again showing his threat in this form of the game. The Windies seem a different team to the demoralised bunch who limped their way through the Test series. Can it really all be down to Gayle's leadership?
Sidey (2/25 off four) was the pick of the bowlers, though the pacers were all useful today, with Jimmy A's 1/27 off four also valuable; Colly took 2/21 off two.
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