Road Safety World Series: West Indies defeat England to set semis clash with India

Brian Lara. Pic/Suresh Karkera

Brian Lara's West Indies Legends entered into the semifinals of the Road Safety World Series T20 by beating Kevin Pietersen's England Legends by five wickets at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.

Chasing 187 runs to win, half-centuries from Dwayne Smith and Narsingh Deonarine saw West Indies through to the knockout stage of the tournament. However, the Windies that was cruising throughout in the chase got a scare when they needed 1 to win in two balls. Lara stepped out to hit off-spinner James Tredwell but missed the ball and got stumped.

With one required on the last ball, Tino Best smartly played a shot for a quick single that took Windies home.

This win helped West Indies Legends finish fourth in the points table, edging out England on better Net Run Rate and make semis. They will meet league leaders India Legends in the last-four stage game on Wednesday evening.

Earlier, Phil Mustard and Owais Shah slammed half-centuries to see England Legends post a challenging total of 186 for three in 20 overs against West Indies.

Opener Mustard got 57 runs off 41 balls with three sixes and five boundaries while the No.4 batsman Shah hit an unbeaten 30-ball 53 which included three hits over the ropes and five through the ground. Captain Pietersen chipped in with a crucial 38 and Jim Troughton got an important 22.

Put in to bat first by West Indies, the English side was there with a mission. And they showed it in their batting with an aggressive approach in Powerplay. Mustard and Pietersen toyed with the Windies attack on a good batting wicket.

Pietersen executed reverse sweeps convincingly against the spinners with the new ball. The opening half-century partnership of Mustard and Pietersen build a strong foundation for England to put up a good score. As things were going good, Pietersen edged medium-pacer Dwayne Smith to wicket-keeper Ridley Jacobs as the scoreboard read 81 on the board.

A while later Smith dismissed Mustard and later in the end, Shah played some big shots to get his half-century and eventually took England to 186 for 3 in 20 overs.

Brief scores:
England Legends 186/3 (Phil Mustard 57, Owais Shah 53'; Dwayne Smith 2/31); West Indies Legends 187/5 (Dwayne Smith 58, Narsing Deonarine 53'; Chris Tremlett 2/37).

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