We’re not just drummers in WI band: Simmons

Root says varied experience will help England in final

MUMBAI, April 1, (Agencies): Aggressive opening batsman Chris Gayle usually hogs the headlines but West Indies’ advance to the World Twenty20 final against England has shown they are by no means a one-man band, according to batsman Lendl Simmons.

Gayle scored an unbeaten century in the Caribbean side’s first pool match against England, which set up their successful run chase of 183, reaching the target with 11 balls to spare in Mumbai. Since then, he has scored nine further runs.

He was dismissed for five in the semi-final against India before Simmons smashed 82 from 51 balls, while Andre Russell scored 43 from 20 to guide their side into Sunday’s showdown with Eoin Morgan’s team in Kolkata on Sunday.

“I think England will certainly be aware that it’s not a one-man show in this team,” Simmons told reporters. “Chris Gayle didn’t get off but we still managed to get over the line and it was a big total.

“Even when he didn’t perform, we were still able to get up and fight and that shows a lot of character from our players.”

The team have needed to rely on their character and collective will after a turbulent few months in which they have been pilloried for their performances in test matches and one day internationals.

They have also been galvanised by yet another bitter pay dispute with their board, who less than two months ago threatened to send a second string side to the tournament in India unless the squad accepted their offer.

Since Gayle’s blistering start to the tournament, others have assumed the mantle of trying to chase down the totals they have been set in all five games.

Andre Fletcher scored 84 not out in their seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka, while Johnson Charles (32) and Marlon Samuels (43) saw them to a three-wicket win over South Africa.

“Every one of our players are match winners in our team,” Simmons added. “We have a lot of batting power and I think we can chase any run total, we always back ourselves to chase totals.”

That confidence has also been evident in Morgan’s side after they comfortably accounted for New Zealand in the other semifinal, with man of the match Jason Roy epitomising the aggressive attitude that has filtered through the team.

That aggression, and confidence, made

MUMBAI, India, April 1, (AP): Pakistan cricket team manager Intikhab Alam criticized Shahid Afridi following the side’s early exit at the World Twenty20, saying the captain had no idea what he was doing.

Pakistan was knocked out of the tournament after losing three of its four group matches, including a loss to rival India.

“A captain in his farewell event after a career spanning nearly 20 years, yet absolutely clueless in terms of on-field tactics and off-field leadership,” Alam said in his tour report, a copy of which was obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

“The captain failed to optimally utilize the talent at his disposal ... his bowling changes and field placement, too, left a lot to be desired.”

Pakistan coach Waqar Younis offered to step down while apologizing to the nation on his return home.

Alam, who was the manager of the team when Pakistan won the 1992 World Cup, also questioned the team selection, mental alertness of the players and lack of physical

them a better outfit than the England team that won the World Twenty20 in 2010, according to the captain of that side, Paul Collingwood.

“In the past our line-up probably had one or two players that were real match-winners,

fitness during the tournament.

“To cap it all, the tournament was being held in India, where the team was under multiple scanners at the same time, pushing the stress and anxiety levels very high,” Alam said.

Soon after arriving in India, Afridi made controversy back home by saying he was more loved in India than in Pakistan. Middle-order batsman Umar Akmal went to Pakistan’s 1992 World Cup-winning captain Imran Khan requesting him that he wanted to bat at No. 3.

Alam said Afridi went out of the way in his news conference and should have “stuck to the detailed briefing” given by the team management.

“Umar Akmal again stealing the limelight in an unseemly manner by seeking Imran Khan’s intervention to fix his batting position at three, when he had done little to inspire confidence at number 4,” Alam wrote.

Khan watched the Pakistan-India match in Kolkata and also gave a pep-talk to the team just before the game at Eden Gardens.

this team is full of match-winners,” Collingwood told the ECB website. “These guys are mentally different to what we used to be. ‘Who dares wins’ is pretty much the motto.

“We probably would think, ‘this is a big game’ and pull back a little bit. It seems to be the other way round for these guys, they seem to thrive on the excitement of the big stage.”

Former champion England carries the confidence of overcoming different challenges during the World Twenty20 as it gears up to face the West Indies in Sunday’s final, leading batsman Joe Root said.

“We’ve found ways of winning games of cricket, which is really important,” Root said Friday ahead of a practice session at the Eden Gardens. “We found ourselves in a number of different situations that we have overcome. It means that whatever happens, we would have been in that situation before. We have experience to go back upon — ways that we have been successful.”

England, looking for a second title to add to its victory in 2010, lost to the West Indies by six wickets in its opening Super 10 game in Mumbai before turning things around with a 230-run chase against South Africa.

On a slower pitch in New Delhi, England won close games batting first against defending champion Sri Lanka and Afghanistan before an impressive seven-wicket win over New Zealand in the first semifinal.

Root said there had been no conscious change in the way they played after the initial setback against 2012 champion West Indies.

“There hasn’t been any attitude swing or the way we approach practice,” Root said. “But we stayed true to what we believed in as a side and how we want to play our cricket. Everyone’s contributed in some way, shape or form, which is always nice going into a final.”