May 16, 2010 – England won their first ever ICC tournament

England won their first ever ICC tournament on this day (May 16) but back in the year 2010, when they defeated Australia in the final of the ICC World Twenty20. The eventual victors were picked out as the dark horses to win the tournament. Hopes seemed quite bleak following a stuttering, rain-affected start to the group stages. However, they hit their stride superbly in the Super Eights, winning all their games in that stage. This was followed by a massive win in the semi-finals over Sri Lanka. The win assumes even more importance considering the fact that Australia were the team to beat in the tournament, having been dominant in the group stages and Super Eights. Michael Hussey’s magical knock in the semi-final against Pakistan had made them favourites for the final.

Craig Kieswetter was named as the man of the match, following his 49-ball 63. Kieswetter expressed his happiness after “getting runs in a final”.

“I wouldn’t say it was easy, but its nice to get runs in a final. KP took the pressure off, allowed me to play quite freely. A lot of work still needs to be done on my keeping, and I’ll be putting in some hard yards in at Taunton,” said the England opener as quoted by Cricinfo.

Kevin Pietersen was named as the Player of the tournament, having accumulated 248 runs.

“A pretty interesting week for me, a little kid on Monday and this trophy today. This is for the whole team. Winning is a habit you create, and this team is hungry for success. What a great, great tournament, good for the boys. It’s never easy playing Australia, but our bowlers did a great job this morning and 150 wasn’t enough,” he stated.

Captain Paul Collingwood hailed his players for the work ethic they had maintained through thick and thin.

“It’s right up there, its got to be, this is the first world cup we’ve ever won. We’ve got some good players in the side, and with the work ethic we’ve had this year I think we’re starting to see the results on the pitch. We’re getting there, and we have today,” he said.

“When you want to be the best you’ve got to beat the best. When we got them three wickets down early doors, we gave ourselves a great opportunity. We want to kick on from this. This is the first trophy we’ve ever won, we’re going to enjoy it, we’r going to savour it,” concluded Collingwood.