England’s end of summer party falls flat
ENGLAND’S interim Twenty20 captain Graeme Swann branded last night’s collapse against the West Indies a “horror show” as his side were bowled out for 88.
After summer of almost unprecedented success, slipping to a 25-run defeat last night at the Oval, which saw the tourists square the two-match series, was a less than fitting way to sign off.
England had bowled superbly to reduce the tourists to 113 – 5 but botched the early overs of the chase against debutant Garey Mathurin and conjured four run outs to slip to the lowest Twenty20 total in their history.
Swann, who had overseen a crushing 10-wicket victory on his captaincy debut on Friday, pulled no punches in the aftermath.
“The first half of the game we were exceptional and we put ourselves in a position where we should never, ever lose a game of cricket,” he said. “Let’s face it, to not chase 113 in international cricket is unacceptable.
“The West Indies bowled and fielded well, but nowhere near well enough to bowl a team out for 88.
“It’s a mixture of things: a bit of pressure, a bit of inexperience and a bit of ineptitude and it all added up to a horror show.”
Windies skipper Darren Sammy (left) added: “We believed if we got early wickets anything was possible. Mathurin predicted he was going to get four wickets. He’s a confident guy who believes in himself and it showed here on debut.”