Foiled By Windies And The Weather

England did well to scrape past India by a relatively small margin and would have expected to capitalise on that victory by taking their place in the semi-finals. Sadly the weather conspired to make life difficult and the West Indies had a shortened target thanks to Duckworth Lewis. This meant an easier run chase which was always going to put them in the driving seat.

Team selection for this match was surprising as England decided to leave out Dimitri Mascarenhas and play Adil Rashid instead. This is not the first time that Mascarenhas has been omitted and those lessons have still not sunk in. The all rounder should be one of the first names on the team sheet when it comes to Twenty20 cricket. The fact England is without Flintoff makes the decision to leave him out even more mystifying.

As per usual England did not quite get enough runs and if they are to become a force in this form of the game this is something that needs to be addressed and rectified. If the totals are consistently short of a par score when batting first this puts immediate pressure on the bowlers which is not ideal.

England is not far from finding a winning formula although you have to wonder whether they will be ruthless enough to do what still needs to be done. A new captain for Twenty20 is a must and this should be sorted out quickly. One player who many observers thought would make an impact is Graham Napier. More Twenty20 specialists need to be given an opportunity to show what they are capable of.

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