England stun India to stay alive in Twenty20 World Cup

So which England team will turn up at the Brit Oval for this evening's make or break World Twenty20 match against West Indies?

If it is the one that started this tournament by losing to the Netherlands and was later walloped by South Africa then we can forget any idea about the hosts reaching the semi-finals. But if Paul Collingwood's side play like they did against Pakistan and India then an eighth consecutive victory over West Indies, and a place in the last four, should be theirs for the taking.

England are certainly on a roll when it come to beating the Windies, having triumphed in four one-day internationals, two Tests and a Twenty20 warm-up game. But if they fall below the standards reached during last night's terrific three-run victory at Lord's, or show even a touch of complacency, then it will be over and out so far as the World Twenty20 is concerned.

"We've done pretty well against the West Indies over the past few months, but that means nothing," said Collingwood. "This is a new competition, a do or die match for both teams, and we have to perform well.

"We're not going to sit back and be complacent. They've got some really dangerous guys in their line-up and we have to come up with some plans to get them out."

England's planning was spot on against India.

West Indies gave them a big hint about which way to go when they defeated India at Lord's on Friday night with the help of some aggressive, short-pitched bowling — and Collingwood happily followed suit, replacing spinner Adil Rashid with an extra seamer in Ryan Sidebottom.

Chasing 154 for victory yesterday evening, defending champions India were hurried up at every opportunity as Sidebottom, Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson and Luke Wright hit the pitch hard.

"One of the ways to go against India is to be aggressive," said Collingwood. "To defend the total we had against a batting line up like India's was a magnificent effort and the boys can be very proud of themselves."

In tight games, it is possible to pick out any number of incidents and suggest they were major turning points but for the purist, there was no finer moment than the one which ended with top-class keeper James Foster stumping potential match-winner Yuvraj Singh. Yuvraj had already hit two sixes when he stretched forward against Graeme Swann and lifted his back foot just long enough for Foster to whip off the bails. Make no mistake, England will need to be on the ball, like Foster was last night, if they want to beat a West Indies outfit that has already defeated Australia as well as India in this competition.

And playing back-to-back matches, even three-hour Twenty20 contests, is tough work for any team. "I think the fact we'll only have had about 18 hours between the end of one game and turning up for the next might work to our advantage," claimed Collingwood. "The win over India will be fresh in our memory."