Sunday, 16th of May 2010 has already gone in the folklore of England’s cricketing history. Yes, the queen’s men won the World Cup T20 2010 by convincingly defeating their arch rivals Australia at Barbados on this very day. When England’s skipper Paul Collingwood struck a boundary off Australian pacer Shane Watson, England still had three overs and seven wickets left to achieve the target of 148 that the Australian’s had set them for victory. And England finished on 151 for the loss of three wickets.
Paul Collingwood With ICC T20 World Cup Trophy
England cricket team deserved the win. They had been consistent throughout the tournament. Barring the only match they lost to West Indies due to the Duckworth Lewis method, England had beaten the likes of New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa in their quest to qualify for Super Eight. We need to remember that each of these teams had much better record in the shortest version of the game. Still England went on to beat the teams convincingly in each game. They defeated Sri Lanka in the semifinals to face the mighty Australian team that had an unbeaten record in the tournament so far. But, as they say, Cricket is a game of holding your nerves. And England did so, quite emphatically. They outplayed the Aussies to win their first major tournament title of this scale. It is hard to imagine, but the fact is that England had to wait for 35 years to win a World Cup since the first One Day Internationals World Cup was played in 1975. They had lost three World Cup Finals (in 1979, 1987 and 1992) and they lost the Champions Trophy Finals in 2004. But they didn’t let it happen this time.
Crushing The Formidables on Their Way
The win in Ashes over Australia may be one of the greatest achievements of England. But just in terms of the sheer scale, magnitude and competition, the victory at World Cup T20 will be placed perhaps in the highest pedestal. The way England defeated the Australians in the finals showed the best example of a clinical team game and total domination. First they restricted Michale Clarke’s Australia to an achievable score of 147 runs. Barring David Hussey (59) and Cameron White (30), none of the Australian batsmen could score runs that would have helped Australia to throw a challenging target to England. With a required run rate of 7.35, it was never difficult for England on a day when the formidable Kevin Pietersen took the guard after a quick dismissal of Michael Lumb. His score of 47 off 31 balls had four boundaries and an over boundary. But the day clearly belonged to Craig Kieswetter. What a match winning performance it was for the rookie batsman. Scoring 69 runs off 49 balls studded with 7 boundaries and 2 over boundaries in such a big stage like World Cup T20 Final was remarkable. He was fittingly adjudged the Man of the Match. Kevin Pietersen was adjudged the Man of the tournament for his brilliant performance (Runs-248, Average -62.00 and Strike Rate-137.77).
The Duo That Saw Through
England’s success would not have been possible without the contribution of Greame Swann. With his current form he is arguably the best spinner in the International Cricket. Swann took 10 wickets in the tournament at an Economy Rate of 6.55. In the final against Australia he gave out just 17 runs in 4 overs at an incredible economy rate of 4.25. It is heartening to see that England which has traditionally produced fast bowlers, are now privileged to have such promising and talented spinner in their armor.
England will be facing the Australia in Ashes later this year. And after beating the Aussies and clinching the T20 World Cup, they will hope to beat them in the Ashes as well to strengthen their supremacy in all forms of the game. We will be waiting!
