Read the sparkling 'gem' for England

Saviour: Chris Read saved England from defeat

Myles Hodgson|Evening Standard|In Georgetown

14 April 2012

Chris Read emerged today from one of the most satisfying displays of his England career having eased any doubts about his future at international level in the opening match of the one-day series against the West Indies.

Nottinghamshire wicketkeeper Read would have been entitled to feel insecure about his place in the limited-overs line-up after being dropped from England's victorious Test side because he had not contributed enough runs.

Despite assurances from captain Michael Vaughan and coach Duncan Fletcher that his place in the one-day side was secure, his recent experiences were bound to make him also question his future.

But if Vaughan and Fletcher did have any doubts about Read's ability or temperament they were quickly eased by a stunning performance to help clinch a twowicket victory last night in Georgetown.

Read rescued the tourists from almost certain defeat. He hit 27 off only 14 balls to secure the triumph after the tourists had slipped to 120 for seven with only four overs remaining in reply to West Indies' 156 for five and Vaughan admitted: "If he had a point to prove, he did it in a good manner.

"It wasn't an easy wicket to go out there in a difficult situation and time it from ball one but that's just what he did.

"When Chris walked out to the crease it was going to take a gem of an innings to get us out it - and to hit three sixes with an old ball in that period of play took some effort."

Read's display put England 1-0 ahead in the series and is likely to make his place that much more secure following the news on the eve of the Final Test that England were to replace him with understudy Geraint Jones for the foreseeable future.

Essex's James Foster also provides a credible alternative in the limited overs form of the game, but Vaughan stressed: "When we replaced him in the Test side we said there and then that he was our No1 keeper in one-day cricket and he's played some crucial knocks, including one against Pakistan last summer.

"His contribution is crucial down the order. He's someone we've not had in the England side for some time, someone down the bottom of the order who can clear the ropes at the end."

But Vaughan was less than impressed with the way England were unable to chase down the West Indies total, which was inspired by a superb 84 from Shivnarine Chanderpaul, on a ground which had small boundaries and a lightning-fast outfield caused by heavy recent rain that forced the match to be reduced to 30 overs a side.

"We weren't too happy with the way we chased down their score and we're a bit concerned with three players getting into the 20s and then getting out, but we're 1-0 up because of a gem of an innings from Chris Read," added Vaughan.

"We were cruising at 60-odd for one and then kept losing wickets at vital moments in the innings and in one-day cricket you can't allow the opposition back into the game and too often we did that when we were on top."

Read added: "The Test situation is a different story and I'll work on that another time, right now I'm just concentrating on the one-day stuff.

"It's been a great start for us. I just tried to keep things going, get a run off every ball and then look for a few boundaries.

"I was hoping to get it down to needing 10 off the final over so to get it down to just three was unbelievable."

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