England were demolished as the Stanford Superstars became dollar millionaires in the high profile Twenty20-for-20 contest.

Chris Gayle's Caribbean collective cruised home by 10 wickets in typically flamboyant style after England were dismissed for a paltry 99 at Coolidge.

It will not go down in the official records but this clash for cash was one of the most humiliating defeats for an England team in history.

Although England captain Kevin Pietersen opted to bat first in Sir Allen Stanford's financial bonanza, only three men reached double figures during a regular tumbling of wickets.

They managed only seven fours between them, a proportion of which were via edges - a total the opposition openers managed inside the first five overs of the reply.

Upon levelling that boundary count, home captain Chris Gayle then upped the tempo to pump up the volume levels in the stands, by turning his attention to sixes, cracking Steve Harmison over the rope at long-on and deep midwicket.

Gayle towered a third off spinner Samit Patel to overshadow his younger partner Andre Fletcher, who nevertheless laced the boundary boards himself to follow up an unbeaten 90 against Middlesex two nights ago.

If England were to have any chance of triumphing in the US dollars 20million match, they required early wickets.

But two spurned run-out chances in the opening overs involving Patel and Pietersen were coupled with two television consultations going against Harmison.

First a leg-before appeal against Gayle in the first over was annulled after the ball was shown to be pitching outside leg-stump, then Fletcher survived after inconclusive replays of a waft that looped through to wicketkeeper Matt Prior.

Failure to separate the first-wicket pair provided the licence the home team needed to provide the excitement associated with the 20-over format.

Gayle revelled in the limelight, depositing off-spinner Graeme Swann for another maximum on his way to a 33-ball fifty.

If Fletcher's early blitz of fours provided the impetus, Gayle took on the baton to the finish, which came when he blasted Flintoff for his fifth six in only the 13th over.

While the Superstars emphasised the value of executing classical cricket strokes with extreme power, England suffered for their improvisation.

Openers Ian Bell and Prior both paid the price for moving around in their crease in the same Jerome Taylor over, the fourth of the innings.

Bell attempted to give himself room and only succeeded in jabbing a yorker into leg-stump while Prior walked across his stumps two deliveries later and was spectacularly bowled.

Such was the dominance of the Superstars' attack in the powerplay period, in fact, that only two boundaries were struck, both by Prior, a flowing extra-cover drive off Taylor and a pull over mid-on off Daren Powell.

With uneven bounce a feature of this week, cross-batted shots were potentially perilous as Owais Shah discovered.

In an attempt to haul the ball from outside off-stump, Shah skied a steepler to deepish square-leg where Dave Mohammed judged the catch perfectly despite team-mate Kieron Pollard almost causing a nasty collision.

England were deep in trouble when star man Pietersen missed an attempted sweep shot off medium-pacer Darren Sammy, which exposed and knocked over his leg-stump.

It triggered one of a number of extravagant celebrations from the West Indian players - Sammy lying on his back with arms aloft in an outpouring of emotion.

When Andrew Flintoff and Paul Collingwood perished in consecutive overs, England were 54 for six and struggling to set a three-figure target.

Flintoff, who had crashed Pollard for a straight four the previous delivery, swished too soon at a slower ball and was bowled. Then Collingwood swung giant left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn low to Ramnaresh Sarwan at deep midwicket.

Within two overs, England had also lost Luke Wright and Swann, who was preferred to fast bowler James Anderson when the XI was named yesterday morning.

Wright's attempt to hit the match's first six resulted in a failure to clear Sammy at long-on, who held a comfortable catch above his head off Pollard.

Swann was subsequently outfoxed by Benn, bowled by a full toss.

The only respite for England against a Superstars side, who had been drilled during a six-week training camp, came when Samit Patel was given a life on five by Mohammed at deep midwicket off Pollard.

That came with Pietersen's men on 66 for eight and Patel, who scampered for two, followed up by pulling the next ball for four.

He edged another one during a 28-run stand with Stuart Broad, which came to its conclusion in the penultimate over when he was run out after attempting to steal a second run from Gayle's misfield.

Benn wrapped the innings up when he castled last man Harmison at the death.

9:35 AM
Categories: Cricket. Author: SacHu