England lose in blind semi-final

By David Gavrilovic

England matched their best finish at the World Cup

England's adventure at the blind World Cup ended at the semi-final stage with a five-wicket defeat against India.

Batting first, England kept wickets in hand, but failed to score quickly enough, posting 209-5 from their 40 overs.

Rory Field top-scored with 72, while Andy Powers added 50.

In reply India suffered an early wobble, slumping to 30-2 after five overs, but recovered to reach their target with 10 overs to spare.

Andy Powers, Tim Guttridge and David Townley took a wicket apiece and there were two run outs.

England's Nathan Foy was philosophical in defeat and chose to look forward, commenting: "We have a centre of young players, so hopefully in four years time the trophy will be ours."

With no third-place play-off, England claimed the bronze medal position, equalling their best finish in the competition, as they defeated the other losing semi-finalists Australia in the group stages.

Pakistan surprised many with a six-wicket victory over India in the final, overhauling their target of 226 with 10 overs to spare.

There was some notable success for England players in the tournament award ceremony, however.

Totally blind player Nathan Foy won best fielder at the competition, with Heindrich Swanepoel, England's captain and the most capped player in international blind cricket history claiming best runner between the wickets and 18-year-old wicketkeeper Dan Field named best gloveman.