Buzzin Cricket

England started their preparations for Saturday’s $20m showdown with the Stanford Superstars with a narrow victory over Middlesex in Antigua. A solid team performance handed Kevin Pietersen’s side a 12-run victory over the Twenty20 Champions.

After England captain Kevin Pietersen won the toss and elected to bat first, his opening batsmen, Ian Bell and Matt Prior, put on 43 inside eight overs before Bell was run out for 23. This brought Owais Shah to the crease and he was the main man in this England innings, finishing unbeaten on 39 as they closed on 121-4 after their 20 overs.

The downside for England was the dismissals of Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff. Considered to be the biggest threats of this batting line-up, neither of them troubled the scorers too much and they will hopefully find their form as this series develops. In terms of Ashes betting, there is no doubt these two need to be on top form by the time Australia come to England next summer.

In all fairness though, the pitch and conditions meant that runs were not easy to come by. Therefore, the cricket odds weren’t exactly backing Middlesex to chase down 122 against a relatively strong England bowling attack.

They weren’t helped by the fact that Andrew Strauss – who must have found it strange playing against England – had his leg stump smashed out of the ground by Ryan Sidebottom. Ed Joyce and Dawid Malan then shared a stand of 62 to keep Middlesex in touch.

However, Andrew Flintoff was in sparkling form with the ball as always and he helped restrict Middlesex before Joyce was dismissed in the penultimate over by James Anderson. At this stage, 18 runs were still required and it was virtually game over.

Indeed, Flintoff successfully bowled the final over to leave Middlesex on 109-4, 12 runs short of victory. It was vital they got off to winning ways and although it was far from a perfect performance, it certainly pleased Kevin Pietersen who said that getting a win under their belts was very ‘important’.

The only complaint the players had after the game was directed at the lights used for the fixture. Several catches were dropped during both innings and Paul Collingwood blamed the lights that were ‘different than any other set’ they have played under.

Next up for England is a game against Trinidad & Tobago on Tuesday 28th October.