Broad says England favourites now to take series

St. John’s (Antigua), March 4 (IANS/CMC) Captain Stuart Broad believes England’s nervy win in second One-Day International Sunday has given them impetus to complete a series triumph.

Chasing a modest 160 for victory at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, England crashed to 105 for seven before Broad (28 not out) and Ravi Bopara (38 not out), held their nerve to see their side to victory in an unbroken 58-run stand, reports CMC.

The victory levelled the series following West Indies’ 13-run win in Friday’s opener, but Broad is now confident of a win in the final game Wednesday.

“Winning close game gives the guys confidence and belief. We’ve lacked that and I think that showed in the middle overs when we lost those four quick wickets. But we should take a lot from winning the game,” Broad said.

“We’re going to have close games in the next five, six weeks; there’s no doubt about that. And it’s a much better feeling winning than losing so we’ve got to keep working hard to make sure we get these more often.

“Confidence will be high and momentum is obviously with us (going into the final ODI), and if we do what we did with the ball Sunday, we’ll stand a fantastic chance because we looked really hard to score off and we squeezed them.

“We’ll have a meeting and clear up where we want to improve, but we did a lot of good things today (Sunday) and I’d like us all to focus on them.”

England were outstanding in the bowling department, limiting West Indies to a paltry 159 all out off 44.2 overs, with left-arm spinner Stephen Parry taking three for 32 on debut and off-spinner James Tredwell, two for 39.

England tottered in their run chase but the experience of Broad and Bopara made the difference in the end, as England recovered to win by three wickets.

“The first half of the game we were awesome, absolutely perfect I’d say, bowling the West Indies out for 160. We had a bit of a wobble with the bat, but at the end of the day we’ve got over the line and we’ve shown some character towards the end to do that,” Broad said.

“That’s why Ravi’s batting seven, to steer us home in those positions. We’ve had a few failures in that over the last six months, but to get over the line…you can see the smile on the boys’ faces…it’s an awesome feeling.”