Twenty20 series: Paul Collingwood chuffed by remarkable England win
The English team maintained their supremacy on http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 in the on-going tour as they clinched a pulsating win off the last ball of the first Twenty20 match played at the Adelaide Oval on Wednesday.
Newcomer Chris Woakes had a dream debut as the right arm fast bowler struck a boundary off the last ball of the match bowled by Shane http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Watson-c96326 when the England needed a single run to pull off an amazing win.
The youngster was unfazed by the tense situation that he encountered especially after the tourists lost their ninth wicket on the first ball of the last over with 4 runs needed for a win. Ajmal Shehzad then struggled to get the ball away
only scoring a single run with two balls left. But crucially, he handed the strike to Woakes who smeared a length delivery by Watson through the mid-wicket region to spark wild celebrations in the English camp.
English skipper Paul Collingwood was chuffed with the performance of his new recruit, who also struck a magnificent six off the front foot, depositing a short ball by Brett Lee into the stands deep in the mid-wicket region. The players
in the English camp labelled the shot as the defining moment of the game.
“It was a fantastic performance by him. To be honest I hadn't seen much of his batting, Andy Flower said he was a serious batter. Graeme Swann was a bit disappointed he was ahead of him but as soon as he hit that six off Tait, Swanny just
doffed his cap at Andy and understood why he was behind him. He looks a serious batter as well, you can say he's a true all-rounder.”
Earlier in the day, Woakes and the rest of the English bowling team bowled brilliantly to restrict the hosts after they had gone off to a rollicking start scoring at more than 10 runs per over inside the first 8 overs. From there on, they
were restricted to a below par total of 157 as the middle-order was choked for runs.
Woakes came back in the later stages of the innings and stemmed the rot besides picking a crucial wicket of Aussie skipper Cameron White at an important juncture of the game.
“There was a lot of pressure. Even though you only have 24 balls to bowl you have the likes of Shane Watson trying to smack you out the park,” Collingwood said. “I thought when he came back for those couple of overs he was superb at a critical
moment. It looks as though he enjoys the pressure.”
The victory gave England their eighth consecutive Twenty20 success which set a new world record, one that Collingwood believes will not be surpassed easily. “It means a lot. We always say we want to create history, it's a new form of the
game but, let me tell you, eight wins in this form of the game is something very special,” he said.
The two teams have one more Twenty20 match to play before the start of the seven-match One Day series.
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