Whole World Had Come Down - Stokes

Ben Stokes

Ben Stokes has spoken for the first time since England’s defeat in the World Twenty20 final, saying he felt “the whole world had come down on me”.

The England all-rounder had been charged with ensuring West Indies could not recover the 19 runs needed in the final over to take the T20 trophy. Instead he was hit for four consecutive sixes by Carlos Brathwaite and was taunted afterwards by the man of the match Marlon Samuels for bowling full tosses. “He doesn’t learn,” the batsman said.

Stokes recalled the moment vividly in an interview with the Daily Telegraph, saying: “I thought, ‘I’ve just lost the World Cup’. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know what to do. It took me so long to get back on my feet. I didn’t want to get back up. It was like the whole world had come down on me. There weren’t any good things going through my mind. It was just complete devastation,” he said.

“For about 40 minutes at the end of the game I knew I just had to deal with it. I had to come back out on the field, collect my medal and listen to all the speeches. I knew the cameras would be all over me to see how I was. Obviously I was gutted but I did not want to show that. I wanted to keep my head up.

Although his captain Eoin Morgan was quick to offer his support there were unwanted repercussions this week when Stokes’s mother Deborah, who lives in New Zealand, phoned the Radio Hauraki show to defend her son after the hosts criticised his performance. Her complaint was broadcast live on air without her permission. The two hosts were suspended.

Stokes recalled the denouement. “After the first six I thought ‘Oh God’ but I was backing myself. I had been in that type of situation for four weeks in all my training so it was not a case of holding anything back and thinking I hope I get this one in, because I knew I could do it,” he said.

“It was not until they needed one off three that I knew the game was gone. When they needed seven I was still backing myself to get us over the line but I just couldn’t. It was amazing hitting. I just did not execute what I wanted to do.”

Related articles

• West Indies beat South Africa, enter World T20 semis
• Result: West Indies seal World T20 semi-final spot with win over South Africa
• West Indies reach world T20 semi-finals after last-over win
• West Indies reach world T20 semi-finals after last-over win
• Windies edge win over battling Proteas
• T20 World Cup: West Indies storm into semi-finals

Captain Morgan Faces Gayle Force

Getty Images

England and West Indies will attempt to make history when they contest the World Twenty20 final at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday.

No team has won the competition more than once since its inception in 2007.

India, Pakistan, England, West Indies and Sri Lanka have all won the title.

England lost to the Windies in their first group match but have since won four in a row, while West Indies lost to Afghanistan having qualified for the semi-finals, where they beat India.

England's Eoin Morgan: "We know it's not going to be a normal game, even in the semi-final, there was quite a lot of hype around the expectation of playing in a final.

"I want all of our players to embrace it. Everything's going to feel a little bit rushed to start with. It's important that we're in a really good frame of mind to slow things down when needed and more importantly execute our skills.

"Given the strides we have made in the last 12 months in white-ball cricket, I think this would be a great reward for the mindset we've shown, the dedication and the hard work we've put in."

West Indies skipper Darren Sammy: "England is a team we respect. We know the calibre of players they have in the dressing room, they have a lot of match-winners as well.

"But we tend to focus on what we can on the cricket field and as a group we believe that once we do what we know we can do on the cricket field it is going to be difficult to defeat us.

"Since that loss to us England have moved in leaps and bounds, that's why they are in the final. I always want cricket to be the winner and hope the fans are entertained and it will be a very exciting match, but at the end I just want West Indies to be victorious."

The first official T20 matches comprising 20 six-ball overs per side took place in the 2003 English county cricket season and the first T20 international was played between New Zealand and Australia in Auckland in February 2005.

The inaugural World T20 was played in 2007 and won by India but after six tournaments in the first nine years, there will be a four-year gap before the next one in Australia in 2020.

This will be the teams' 14th meeting in T20 cricket. West Indies have won nine, including all four at the World T20. No team has beaten England more in T20 history than those nine wins by the West Indies

Chris Gayle has scored more T20 runs against England than any other player (345)

England captain Eoin Morgan has been out first ball in two of his last three innings

West Indies captain Darren Sammy has scored just six runs in two innings and bowled only once in the tournament

Four of David Willey's wickets in this event have been openers, the most of any bowler

50% of balls bowled by Ben Stokes in overs 16-20 have been dots, more than anyone else in the event to have bowled more than three overs in that period

Four of the five T20 finals have been won by the side winning the toss

Two of those finals have won by the side batting first, three by chasing teams, including England in 2010

Eden Gardens has been staging international cricket since 1934 and hosted its first T20 international in 2011.

The highest score made there in a T20 was the 201-5 Pakistan posted against Bangladesh in this event.

Bangladesh hold the unwanted lowest-score record, with their 70 against New Zealand last month.

Neither finalist has yet played at the ground in this tournament, England playing all their games to date in Mumbai and Delhi, West Indies playing at Mumbai, Bangalore and Nagpur.

Temperatures are expected to be around 31 celsius for the final, which is a night game, beginning at 19:00 local time, with a capacity crowd of 66,000 expected.

Routes to the final:

ENGLAND

lost to West Indies by six wickets, Mumbai: Eng 182-6; WI 183-4 (18.1 overs)

beat South Africa by two wickets, Mumbai: SA 229-4; Eng 230-8 (19.4 overs)

beat Afghanistan by 15 runs, Delhi: Eng 142-7; Afg 127-9 (20 overs)

beat Sri Lanka by 10 runs, Delhi: Eng 171-4; SL 161-8 (20 overs)

Semi-final:

Beat New Zealand by seven wickets, Delhi: NZ 153-8; Eng 159-3 (17.1 overs)

WEST INDIES

beat England by six wickets, Mumbai

beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets, Bangalore: SL 122-9; WI 127-3 (18.2 overs)

beat South Africa by three wickets, Nagpur: SA 122-8; WI 123-7 (19.4 overs)

lost to Afghanistan by six runs, Nagpur: Afg 123-7; WI 117-8 (20 overs)

Semi-final:

beat India by six wickets, Mumbai: Ind 192-2; WI 196-3 (19.4 overs)

Line-ups:

England (probable): A Hales, J Roy, J Root, E Morgan (capt), J Buttler (wkt), B Stokes, M Ali, C Jordan, D Willey, A Rashid, L Plunkett.

West Indies (probable): J Charles, C Gayle, M Samuels, L Simmons, A Russell, D Bravo, D Ramdin (wkt), D Sammy (capt), C Brathwaite, S Badree, S Benn.

Umpires: 

R Tucker (Aus), K Dharmasena (SL).

Third umpire: M Erasmus (SA)

Match referee: R Madugalle (Ind).

Related articles

• South Africa vs West Indies TV and live streaming information: Watch ICC World T20 live online
• Struggling South Africa set West Indies 123 to win
• Hampshire sign Darren Sammy
• Bangladesh poses real threat at World T20 - McClenaghan
• Pakistan thump Bangladesh with comfortable 55-run win in Kolkata
• India and Pakistan's cricketing rivalry has always been about more than sport

Warne Questions Australia Selections

Shane Warne has questioned the wisdom of some of Australia’s selections – which, he says, contributed to their early elimination from the World Twenty20. 

Defeats by New Zealand and India led to them being knocked out in the group stage for the second competition in a row.

Although Warne, cricket’s second-highest Test wicket-taker with 708, admits Australia were not good enough, he thinks they created a major problem by ditching the long-standing David Warner-Aaron Finch partnership at the top of the batting order. 

Shane Watson and Usman Khawaja were preferred to open as Warner floated in the middle order while Finch, one of only two Australia batsman to score a T20 international hundred, played only the final two matches.

Warne acknowledges Khawaja, who scored two centuries in four matches in the Big Bash League, should have been a certain starter but not as opener.

He said: “First of all, our selection was wrong. I don’t think we got that right, we messed around with it too much rather than sticking with what’s been a proven formula and we probably didn’t play well enough, which is the brutal truth.

“I know Khawaja was in unbelievable form and had to play but I would have batted him at No3. I don’t think they should have broken up Finch and Warner and I think it upset the balance of the team. Those two guys had been batting together for a long time, they have done well in Twenty20, they’ve done well in one-day cricket, and suddenly they got spilt up.

"And I just would never, ever have left Aaron Finch out. Even if he missed out in a few games, I think that Finch-Warner partnership is an intimidatory factor before a ball is bowled and people would have worried about Finch and Warner. It’s not to say they didn’t worry about Khawaja, but I just think the other two are more destructive.”

Warne also criticised the decision to leave the seamer John Hastings out of the must-win game against India in favour of Josh Hazlewood. He added: “Hazlewood is a beautiful Test bowler, and it’s not that he can’t bowl in these forms of the game, but I just think Hastings is a better option in a Twenty20 game because of his yorkers – we saw him in the Big Bash bowl his yorkers, he’s just about the best we have. We were one-dimensional by not playing Hastings all the time. I just think because we had so much talent in our team and so much skill, they [the selectors] thought: ‘It doesn’t matter what the combinations are we’re still going to do OK.’ But it wasn’t to be.”

Related articles

• Mel McLaughlin's secret new role
• Former Test bowler Ben Hilfenhaus retires
• Aussie fans face World T20 television blackout
• Aussie fans face World T20 television blackout
• Shane Watson announces end of international cricket career
• Aussie fans face World T20 television blackout

New Zealand Beat Australia in Twenty20

New Zealand gained partial revenge for defeat in last year’s World Cup final with an eight-run win over Australia in the World Twenty20.

The Black Caps relied on power hitting at both ends of their innings, from Martin Guptill up front and Grant Elliott in the closing overs, to reach 142 for eight.

It looked below par but tight bowling earned them a second successive win as Mitchell McClenaghan, recalled after missing the opening game when a spin-heavy attack skittled India, took three for 17.

Guptill struck two fours and four sixes in an opening stand of 61 with captain Kane Williamson, which ended when Guptill - who hit 39 from 27 balls - hoisted James Faulkner to deep midwicket.

Glenn Maxwell took the catcher and his off-spin accounted for the next two wickets, first Williamson (24) and then Corey Anderson lofting straight down the ground to Ashton Agar in successive Maxwell overs.

Colin Munro produced an array of shots - at one point pulling out of an intended switch-hit over leg to steer the ball right-handed past keeper Peter Nevill for four - but on 23 a big heave at Mitchell Marsh from his regular left-handed stance picked out Faulkner.

Ross Taylor hit Shane Watson for a huge six but chipped the next ball weakly to Marsh at midwicket, but Elliott provided late impetus with 27 from 20 balls before being run out off the final ball of the 20 overs.

Australia also slipped after a strong start, Usman Khawaja and Watson putting on 44 before Watson drove McClenaghan’s slower ball to Williamson at mid-off and new man Steven Smith was stumped, beaten by huge turn from Mitchell Santner.

Khawaja hit six fours in his 38 from 27 balls, but was run out as Adam Milne’s powerful throw from the deep beat his dive. That left Australia 66 for three at halfway and from the very next ball, David Warner swatted Santner straight to Guptill on the leg-side boundary.

Maxwell and Marsh carried the fight and with five overs remaining Australia were 100 for four - one run better than the Beige Brigade had been at the same stage.

Maxwell holed out for 22, though, Williamson holding a steepling catch off Ish Sodhi’s bowling, and Agar was surprisingly promoted ahead of Faulkner to number seven.

He and Marsh each hit sixes in Santner’s last over, the left-armer finishing with two for 30, but Marsh fell to the returning McClenaghan and the left-arm seamer also had Agar well caught by Taylor in a brilliant 19th over.

Australia needed 19 off the last and when key man Faulkner heaved Anderson (two for 29) to long-on and Guptill took a good catch, the game was up as Australia finished on 134 for nine.

Related articles

• New Zealand vs Australia, second ODI: Injured Kane Richardson out, Aussies fielding
• Watch 3rd ODI live: New Zealand vs Australia live streaming & TV information
• NZ paceman Henry replaces Bracewell for second test
• Australia v New Zealand second Test: Kiwis fight to live another day
• Peter Siddle out of second trans-Tasman Test
• NZ leads Australia by 176 runs at tea on day 4

Black Caps Leave India Dhoni and Dusted

Kane Williamson’s gamble to compromise on speed and pick three specialist spinners paid off as New Zealand humbled hosts India by 47 runs in a spin-dominated Super 10 contest of the World Twenty20 on Tuesday.

Opting to bat first, New Zealand posted 126-7 in the Group Two contest on a prodigiously turning track at Nagpur’s VCA Stadium, seemingly a below-par total against the host nation who are famed for their proficiency against spin bowling.

New Zealand’s three-pronged spin attack, however, ensured it was more than enough as Mitchell Santner (four for 11), Nathan McCullum (two for 15) and the Indian-born Ish Sodhi (three for 18) wrecked the hosts who folded for 79 in 18.1 overs. Williamson said it was not an easy decision to drop the pace duo of Tim Southee and Trent Boult to accommodate the spinners.

“Obviously that was tough, they are world class bowlers,” the Kiwi captain said. “But at the same time we are looking to do the best we can in these conditions. Certainly the spinners paid off today. The wicket spun a lot and they bowled very well on it.”

The first three balls of the match contained the kind of drama and excitement that fans would be expecting from the sixth edition of the tournament in cricket’s emotional and financial home in India.

After Williamson won the toss and decided to set a target, Martin Guptill nonchalantly hit the first delivery from Ravichandran Ashwin over the bowler’s head for a six. The off-spinner settled score in the very next ball, trapping the batsman leg before with a delivery that, replay suggested, would have gone over the stumps.

New man in Colin Munro reverse hit the next ball for a six but threw his wicket in the next over. As wickets kept tumbling at the other end, Corey Anderson (34) tried to steady the innings and it was Luke Ronchi’s (21 not out) 11-ball cameo that took them past the 125-mark. The Indian fans expected the chase to be a stroll in the park but Santner, who was adjudged man-of-the-match, and McCullum had other ideas.

They blew away India’s top order, reducing them to 26-4 in the fifth over to derail their chase. Virat Kohli (23) resisted the onslaught for a while but Sodhi struck a crucial blow with his very first ball to send back the Indian batting mainstay.

Home captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni waged a lone battle with a run-a-ball 30 but the celebrated ‘finisher’ could not get his team over the line.

New Zealand beat India at their own game with their spinners claiming nine of the 10 wickets but Dhoni insisted the defeat was more down to his team’s careless batting.

“It was our batting that let us down,” the home captain said after India’s fifth futile attempt to beat New Zealand in Twenty20 Internationals.

“There were quite a few soft dismissals. It was not like the deliveries got a lot of batsmen out. Maybe it was our shot selection... there was no partnership also,” Dhoni rued.

Related articles

• Indian bowling looks balanced and settled: Dhoni
• Heres Why Parthiv Patels Inclusion As Cover For Mahendra Singh Dhoni Makes Lot Of Sense
• Dhoni's fitness a concern as India take on Bangladesh
• Sorry jinx, no room for you
• The predicament of being Ajinkya Rahane
• Asia Cup, BAN vs IND: Mahendra Singh Dhoni's fitness a concern

Captain Morgan Leads Defeat

England’s World Cup campaign started in disappointing fashion as they were thrashed by Australia at the MCG.

Eoin Morgan’s men were bowled out for 231 in pursuit of The Baggy Greens’ imposing total of 342-9 to register a 111- run defeat.

James Taylor (98no) top scored for England with his highest ODI total, while Mitchell Marsh (5-33) outgunned Australia’s senior bowlers with his first five-for.

Aaron Finch (135) had earlier starred for the co-hosts with the bat, crunching his sixth one-day ton on his World Cup debut after being dropped on nought by Chris Woakes.

Glenn Maxwell (66 off 40) also added quick-fire late runs for Australia, before Steven Finn (5-71) claimed the first hat-trick by an Englishman in World Cup cricket.

England, who picked Gary Ballance instead of Ravi Bopara, elected to bowl in Melbourne and should have had an early breakthrough but Woakes somehow shelled Finch at mid-wicket in the first over.

Finch made the most of his lifeline, firstly putting on 57 for the first wicket with David Warner (22) and then, when Warner and Shane Watson (0) fell to consecutive Stuart Broad deliveries and Woakes bowled Steven Smith (5), adding 146 with skipper George Bailey.

Right-hander Finch, who brought up his century of 102 balls, was run out by Morgan in the 36th over and Bailey dragged a Finn delivery onto his poles shortly after.

But Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh (23 off 20) and Brad Haddin (31 off 14) did not let Australia’s innings dwindle, plundering 116 from the final 12 overs.

It was a bizarre finish to Australia innings as Steve Finn ended the innings with a hat-trick and five-for. The game is live on Sky Sports World Cup.

Finn (5-71) finished Australia’s knock in good spirits, though, dismissing Haddin, Maxwell and Mitchell Johnson (0) in successive deliveries in the final over.

England were soon in trouble in their reply, however, with Moeen Ali (10) miscuing a pull shot and holing out to mid-on, and Ballance (10) chipping Marsh to short mid-off.

Ian Bell (36) had seemingly bedded in but he slogged to Starc at midwicket to hand Marsh a second scalp and the 23-year-old had a third next ball when Joe Root (5) top-edged behind to Haddin.

Taylor, shunted down to six with Ballance taking his No 3 spot, was next in but he wasn’t batting with his captain for long, as Morgan (0) presented Haddin with another catch to record his fourth duck in five innings.

Haddin showed his athleticism to dismiss Morgan, but that was nothing compared to Smith, who produced a stunning dive at short cover to pluck a firmly-hit stroke from Jos Buttler (10) out of the air and complete Marsh’s five-for.

England were 92-6 at that stage, though they increased that to 184-6 thanks to some good scampering between the wickets by Taylor and Woakes (37) and latterly some lusty blows.

However, the 92-run partnership ended when Woakes skied to Smith and when Broad (0) was bowled by for a golden duck and Finn (1) went caught-and-bowled, Taylor – who was dropped twice and survived a caught-behind review – was left with last man Anderson.

The Notinghamshire player moved to within two runs of his hundred, though after he successfully reviewed an lbw decision, Anderson (8) was run-out by Maxwell off the same delivery, with Taylor's pleas of dead ball falling on deaf ears.

Related articles

• Triangular Series Australia v England line-ups
• England wins toss, bowls in tri-series ODI final vs. Australia
• Tri-series final today
• England to bowl first against Australia
• England to bowl first against Australia
• Live Score: Johnson back as England opt to field against Australia

ICC Praise Cricket Ireland

Getty Images

The International Cricket Council says the success of Tuesday's one-day international at Malahide was a "big step" for Irish cricket.

ICC global development manager Tim Anderson said he was impressed by Tuesday's occasion with over 10,000 watching the defeat by England.

"10,000 people in Dublin on a Tuesday afternoon suggests this is becoming a very serious cricket market," he said.

Despite Ireland's six-wicket defeat after earlier appearing to have England in trouble, Cricket Ireland chief Warren Deutrom felt that there were many positives that could be taken from the country's biggest ever home game.

Deutrom acknowledged that the country was not yet in a position where it could "even ask the question" about Test status but added that he was pleased with continuing progress.

As he watched the contest in glorious sunshine at the redeveloped Malahide ground, ICC official Anderson described Ireland as "probably the most important associate nation".

"Having an event like today when we can get this number of people into a game of cricket in Ireland is a big step in saying to the ICC: 'There is a growing culture of cricket in this country'," he said.

"Continuing to perform well on the pitch when you have opportunities like this and opportunities to perform in World Cups and World Twenty20s (is important) as is having a very strong governance and administration.

"They are the best (associate nation) on the field and the only one we could see producing what they are producing today."

Anderson added that Ireland can hold out hope of having more opportunities to play against full member countries in the coming years.

"Full members struggle to play everyone (of the other full members) so moving that concept ahead is not easy but we are considering those options with our full members.

"Hopefully in the future, the regular structured opportunities could be available."

The ICC official said that Irish cricket's governance "is one of the best in world cricket and not just in the affiliate and associate countries".

"Cricket Ireland have a fantastic CEO in Warren Deutrom and a very good board and management team," he said.

Deutrom pointed out the presence of Irish President Michael D Higgins among the dignitaries at Tuesday's game as evidence of the increasing profile of the sport in the country.

"It's also about having that dream to be as good as we can be," added Deutrom.

"If our players are leaving us to go to England and chasing their Test dream then we always stand to lose our best players.

"We are not asking the (Test) question yet. We've set out by 2019 or 2020 that's where we're going to be.

"Two of the boxes that we hadn't ticked up until the last 18 months was about having a domestic three-day structure and having some form of tier between club and country, which is the Inter-Provincial structure we have introduced this year.

"And in terms of having a culture of cricket which is another of the criteria, what does that mean?

"I would suggest (it is) having 10,000 fans - at least half of whom are totally new to the sport - coming in to consume the game today and media from all over the UK and Ireland.

"We have 650 hospitality guests. We sold all our perimeter advertising. Corporate Ireland has bought into it. I'd say we're ticking the box to really embed or develop a culture of cricket in Ireland."

Related articles

• The 6ft 7in cricketer from Derry who helped England beat his former Irish team-mates as the sport's profile here gets even higher
• Morgan hopes to lead by example
• Reflections on Ireland vs England
• RSA Challenge Ireland v England
• England beat Ireland by six wickets
• Cricket | Morgan to captain England's ODI squad V Ireland