Co-hosts West Indies and U.S. set to make Twenty20 tournament ‘greatest ever’

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“This will be the greatest World Twenty20 Cup to ever be played,” are the prophetic words of Sir Andy Roberts considered the father of modern West Indian fast bowlers.

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The great Antiguan paceman has hit the nail on the head. “If the West Indies doesn’t win it all look for one of the minnows to pull off a shocker,” Roberts told the Sun in an exclusive interview. Could he have the United States in mind when talking about a minnow or even Afghanistan. Co-host United States has taken the tournament by storm and given the sport a chance of gaining a foothold in a country that has so many established professional sports franchises. Crowds have been treated to non-stop excitement, top-flight batting and bowling, extraordinary fielding in the first segment of the competition. One can expect some more close finishes now that the tournament enters the Super 8 segment on Wednesday.

The eight teams have been divided into two groups with the top two finishers moving into the final four. For the first time in this slam-bang competition the batsmen have had to play second fiddle to the bowlers. Take the recent Indian Premier League where fans were treated to a glut of fours and sixes flowing effortlessly off the bats. Not this time though. The bowlers have found their length and line and Roberts is thrilled the bowlers are finally getting their day in the sun. “The rules are not in favour of the bowlers,” said Roberts. “Calling wides on any ball on the leg side is something the ICC should reconsider and also the decision on some bouncers have not made it an equal playing field,” added Roberts who was a member of the 1975 and 1979 World Cup winning West Indies.

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Talk about surprises and there have been a few dished out. Few expected Pakistan, New Zealand and Sri Lanka to be bundled out in the first phase of this competition. Then there is defending champion England who came within a whisker of being handed an early flight back to Heathrow if not for auld enemy Australia doing them a favour. England has to thank Marcus Stoinis for giving them a reprieve as he plundered 59 off 29 balls in the five-wicket win over Scotland with just two balls to spare. Scotland made 180 and the Aussies hit back with 181. If Scotland had won England would be out. After a rain out against Scotland followed by a hammering by Australia it rebounded with victories against also-rans Oman and Namibia.

One of the non-Test nations that gave a superb account of itself was Canada. It went down to the U.S. in the opener, lost to Pakistan, then surprised Ireland. Its final game against India was rained out. In the Super 8s England has been placed in Group 2 with co-hosts West Indies and the United States and South Africa. There should be fireworks in Group One as the unbeaten co-favourites Australia and India are bracketed with Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The Aussies are now one step closer to becoming the first country to win all three of the major ICC trophies, but a daunting trial by spin stands in their way on the bone-dry Caribbean surfaces. Rishad Hossain will spearhead the Bangladesh whirlers while Afghanistan could be a bigger threat with the trio of skipper Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmed and Mohammad Nabi. India will unleash Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav in next week’s blockbuster confrontation in Saint Lucia.

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One team that has advanced under the radar has been South Africa that has yet to win an ICC trophy despite fielding one of the strongest squads. In fact, the Proteas nearly fell victim to tiny Nepal and that would have been the biggest upset in the history of Twenty20 cricket. Nepal restricted South Africa to 115 and it was only a superb showing by spinner Tabraiz Shamsi who claimed two wickets in the 18th over that saw the Proteas escape with a one-run win! Meanwhile the hopes of the Caribbean nations got a tremendous boost as wicket-keeper Nicholas Pooran in the final game against Afghanistan. He smashed a stupendous 98 in the home team’s total of 218 for five, the highest score in this competition before a raucous crowd in St. Lucia. Afghanistan was surprisingly no match for the West Indies as it was back in the pavilion for 114 with fast bowler Obed McCoy taking three wickets for 14 runs.

Pooran has struck form at the right time and the West Indies will be hoping for another huge innings from him in the encounter versus England. Pooran smashed eight sixes and that included three in the fourth over that saw a record 36 runs — equalling the most expensive over in men’s Twenty20 competition. Apart from Pooran’ s fireworks there was a no-ball and five wides. Pooran was run out in the final over as he desperately tried to get to his century.

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