England defeats Australia and wins 2010 Twenty20 Cricket World Cup

-- Wikinews

England have defeated Australia in the final of the 2010 Twenty20 Cricket World Cup to win the tournament. England won by 7 wickets at the Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados to lift the World Cup. A 111 run partnership between Craig Kieswetter, the man of the match and Kevin Pietersen, the man of the tournament, helped them in chasing down the target of 148 runs set by Australia.

England won the toss and opted to field. Australia scored 147 runs, losing 6 wickets in their twenty overs. David Hussey was the top scorer, getting 59 runs. Australia scored only 47 runs for 4 wickets in their first ten overs. David Hussey and Cameron White added 22 runs in the thirteenth over, thus helping their team to get to 147 for 6 in their innings. For England, Ryan Sidebottom took two wickets for 26 runs in four overs.

Early in England's innings, Dirk Nannes of Australia took the wicket of Michael Lumb of England, when the latter was caught by David Hussey at mid-wicket. Kevin Pietersen of England came when Lumb got out, and helped England to reach 44 runs in the six powerplay overs. The partnership between Pietersen and Kieswetter helped their team to reach the target of 148 runs in seventeen overs, with three overs in hand.

England captain Paul Collingwood told the media that he thought "belief ha[d] been the key." "As soon as we got the squad together, seeing how much power we have in the squad, I know that is all on paper but we could tell that we had a lot of potential," he commented.

"I think a lot of credit goes to every single player in the dressing room to have the confidence to go out there and really give it their best shots and have no regrets. I think we have done that throughout the tournament and it has certainly paid off," he noted.

For England, this is the first victory in a limited overs championship as they had never won a single one-day or T20 World Cup or the Championship League tournament till this victory. In this connection, all-rounder Collingwood said: "[t]his is right up there, with the best," adding "[t]o be the first [England] team to win a 'World Cup' is very special. We knew it was a monkey on our back."

Meanwhile, Australian captain Michael Clarke admitted his disappointment at the result. He conceded that his performance was poor, saying, "There's no doubt the selectors will need to have a look at my performances. I certainly know they haven't been up to scratch through this whole tournament and probably in Twenty20 cricket in general. I'm sure the selectors will sit down and have a look and if I'm not the right guy for No 3 and the captaincy then they'll make that decision"

Newly elected UK Prime Minister David Cameron praised the English team. "Congratulations to Paul Collingwood and the England Twenty20 team on becoming world champions for the first time with a magnificent victory over Australia. Let's hope this marks the start of a great summer of sport for England," he said.

The English Sports Minister Hugh Robertson commented: "I'm absolutely delighted England have won the World Twenty20. They have played exciting and intelligent cricket and are worthy winners."

England: Michael Lumb, Craig Kieswetter, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan, Luke Wright, Michael Yardy, Greamme Swann, Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan, Tim Bresnan, Ryan Sidebottom

Australia: Shane Watson, David Warner, Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, David Hussey, Cameron White, Michael Hussey, Steven Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Tait, Dirk Nannes

Man of the match: Craig Kieswetter (England)


Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and Billy Doctrove (West Indies)
TV Umpire: Billy Bowden (New Zealand)
Match Referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka)
Reserve Umpire: Rudi Koertzen (South Africa)