Captain Chris Gayle salutes veterans Sarwan, Chanderpaul

Captain Gayle salutes veterans Sarwan and Chanderpaul for steering Windies into semis

Captain Chris Gayle salutes veterans Sarwan, Chanderpaul

Captain Gayle salutes veterans Sarwan and Chanderpaul for steering Windies into semis

age no bar: The experienced duo of Ramnaresh Sarwan (centre) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (left) added 37 to guide West Indies to a five-wicket victory with four balls to spare and send England out of the ICC World Twenty20 last night.

West Indies defeated England by five wickets after being set a rain-revised target of 80 off nine overs with Sarwan making 19 and Chanderpaul 17 after their side had been 45-5.

"It was great to have the senior guys there. They have the experience and worked the ball around well," said Gayle whose team joined South Africa and Pakistan in the semi-finals.

West Indies also overcame the loss of strike bowler Fidel Edwards who suffered a back injury just before the start of the Super Eights clash at the Oval.

"It was a great effort today by the guys. Losing Fidel was a real blow. In nine overs anything could happen," added the skipper.

"It would have been nice to play a full 20 overs. Their score of 161 was below par and was very gettable for us. I see no reason why we couldn't have got the runs."

Man-of-the-match Sarwan admitted his partnership with Chanderpaul kept England on the back foot in the closing moments.

"We were pretty confident of getting the runs. We tried not to panic and concentrated on getting the bad ball away," he said.

"Also the left-hander, right-hander combination meant they had to keep changing line and length. That confused them."

Getting better at T20
England captain Paul Collingwood, whose team had lost the opening match of the tournament to the Netherlands before knocking out defending champions India, believes his squad are getting better at Twenty20.

"The total was about par and the bowlers were fantastic, but trying to defend 80 in nine overs was always going to be difficult," he said.

"They have 10 wickets in hand so they will come at you hard. Over 20 overs, we would have had a better chance.

"We are getting better at Twenty20. We have beaten Pakistan and India here. Hopefully more experience will take us further ahead."

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels