Tag Lords-May-2012

England captain Andrew Strauss lauded his team’s performance after England beat West Indies by 5 wickets at Lord’s in the first of the three test match Investec series. Giving credit where it’s due, the English skipper acknowledged that it was no walk in the park for his team and admitted that West Indies had indeed given them more than a few tense moments..

Exclaiming that he was more than happy with his main men – Alistair Cook and Ian Bell – Strauss spoke to the English Cricket Board website and said, “Whenever you’re chasing, there’s a bit of pressure so it was an outstanding effort from Cook and Bell,” the skipper said, “They played in a very classy manner. It’s been a tough Test match and we’ve had to work very hard for this.” Stuttering at 10/2, Cook and Bell solidified the innings with 2 patient centuries, not letting their focus of the eventual target of 191.

Explaining that the wicket was slow, but being flat, England was always in a good position to chase the target down. England presently being the more superior of the 2 teams, most fans would have presumed that the English would make it home with ease. But, further explaining the uncertainty of cricket, Strauss said, “But you never know with cricket, that's one of the beauties of the game is the unexpected can sometimes happen and we put ourselves in a bit of a tricky position by losing a couple last night.”

Stuart Broad was the English bowler instrumental in affecting a win over the visiting islanders. He picked up 11 wickets in all (7 in the first innings and 4 in the second) – a feat that got him on the honour’s boards at Lord’s. Having made a century against Pakistan back in 2010, Broad becomes the first ever English man to score a century and get a 10 wicket haul at Lord’s – widely regarded as the ‘Mecca of Cricket.’ Speaking about his team’s bowling effort, Strauss said, “We had to dig pretty deep, the seamers had to go through a lot of overs, but when you have to dig deep it makes it a bit more satisfying when you get over the line.”

Yesterday, West Indies captain Darren Sammy was fined 80% of his match fee for slow over rate. The West Indians were adjudged by the match referee Roshan Mahanama to be four overs short of the designated target. The usual rules stipulated by the ICC states that a player is supposed to be charged 10% of his match fee for slow over rate. The percentage of fine is doubled in the case of captains. If the West Indies repeat the offence, Sammy stands to receive a one match suspension.

West Indies scored 243 in the first innings, thanks to a well fought out 87 by Shivnarine Chanderpaul, England scored 398 with Strauss ending an 18 month century draught, the Windies came back with a decent 345 in their second innings with Chanderpaul and Samuels making half centuries. Set a target of 191 to win, England made it home with 5 wickets in hand.