How do you make up for this innings? West Indies will certainly feel they’ve left a few runs short, England will quietly feel confident of chasing this score down with their power-packed batting line-up. The hosts started well and then lost Brandon King to what could be a groin pull. Johnson Charles and Nicholas Pooran took their time to settle as the hosts reached 82 for 0 at the half-way mark. Moeen then struck to send back Charles for a 34-ball 38, Powell threatened to dismantle England with sheer power, he struck three sixes off a single Livingstone over, but was dismissed while trying for a fourth. Pooran and Russell were soon dismissed, Rutherford chipped in with a 15-ball 28*, but you would feel 180 is only a par score here. Scotland made 180 and couldn’t defend against Australia, the other two first innings scores here are 201 and 219 this season. England were excellent with their skills in the last 5 overs, can they bat West Indies out of the contest in the batting PP?
Adil Rashid: We bowled exceptionally well as a unit. The seamers, spinners, everyone bowled well. 180 is a par score on this wicket, we’ll be pleased with that. Just wanted to express myself and assess the pitch. (On bowling with a slip) You get a sense after seeing how they are going to bat. So, wanted to add and take it out just to play some mind games with them.
England have lit up the T20 World Cup with a resounding victory. West Indies’ 8-match winning streak comes to an end. The Windies batters were not quite on the money tonight. 5 of their top 6 batters got off to starts but couldn’t make a substantial impact. England’s death bowling was brilliant and that what turned the tide even more in their favor. 180 on a good batting deck was a bit under-par and England proved that in their run-chase. Salt and Buttler took their side off to a great start navigating through the powerplay in style. It was Chase who got the better of the English skipper and Russell struck soon after to get rid of Mooen. But by then, England were in firm control of the match. Bairstow played fluently from the moment he came in and that made things even easier for the Englishmen. Salt raised a fifty and changed gears thereafter. He went beserk against Shepherd and took 30 off an over to kill the game. Eventually, England sailed to a comfortable victory with 15 balls to spare.
Phil Salt | Player of the Match – I like batting here, but I’m happier to have contributed to a good team win. It was tough against spin in the middle overs, but I knew pace would come at some stage, the wind was blowing at one end, there was one short boundary and I backed myself to take on him (on his 30-run over against Shephard). There was a period where I didn’t face too many balls, the boundaries had dried up, but Jonny (Bairstow) took the pressure off me with his calculated hitting, his knock was very crucial.
Phil Salt vs West Indies in T20Is Inns: 9 Runs: 478 Avg: 68.28 SR: 186.71 50s/100s: 2/2 4s/6s: 34/32 Salt has hit a four or a six in roughly every four balls in T20Is against West Indies.
Most sixes by an England batter against an opponent (T20Is) 32 – Phil Salt vs WI 26 – Eoin Morgan vs NZ 25 – Jos Buttler vs AUS 24 – Jos Buttler vs SA
Most runs in ENG vs WI T20Is 478 – Phil Salt (9 innings) 423 – Alex Hales (13 innings) 422 – Chris Gayle (14 innings) 420 – Nicholas Pooran (15 innings) 390 – Jos Buttler (16 innings)
Highest individual scores for England in T20 WC 116* – Alex Hales vs SL, Chattogram, 2014 101* – Jos Buttler vs SL, Sharjah, 2021 99* – Luke Wright vs AFG, Colombo RPS, 2012 87* – Phil Salt vs WI, Gros Islet, 2024 86* – Alex Hales vs IND, Adelaide, 2022
Longest winning streaks for West Indies in T20Is 8 – 2024 (streak ended today) 7 – 2012-2013 5 – 2017 4 – 2015-2016
Most expensive overs in Men’s T20 WC 36 – Stuart Broad (ENG) vs IND, Durban, 2007 36 – Azmatullah Omarzai (AFG) vs WI, Gros Islet, 2024 33 – Jeremy Gordon (CAN) vs USA, Dallas, 2024 32 – Izatullah Dawlatzai (AFG) vs ENG, Colombo (RPS), 2012 30 – Bilawal Bhatti (PAK) vs AUS, Mirpur, 2014 30 – Romario Shepherd (WI) vs ENG, Gros Islet, 2024
Rovman Powell | West Indies captain – When you look from the batting perspective, we were 15-20 runs short. We could have given a better display with the ball as a bowling group. We couldn’t capitalize in the last five overs but credit to the English bowlers, they executed their plans very well. (On Brandon King’s injury) Just a bit worried, but hopefully he can pull through for the next game. It’s always difficult, every time he plays against WI, he hurts us. We couldn’t execute our plans against Phil. Our destiny is in our own hands and we need to win well, we need to continue playing good cricket.
Jos Buttler | England captain – That’s a really good performance from us, we executed well with both bat and ball. I thought we bowled really well to restrict such a powerful batting line-up, still we had to chase it down. but smart play from us. The partnership between Salt and Bairstow was great. I brought Jof back there, Pooran and Russell coming in, two of the best batters in the world, so we brought our best bowler back in. (On Adil Rashid) He’s a really important player, he has got so many variations and restricts runs. He batted at No. 4 today, he is a class player and we have decided to keep backing our class players. It was an incredible innings, a mature senior player’s innings, he batted with a lot of power. A lot of people say you learn when you lose but I also feel you learn when you win, important to reflect on our performance and look back what worked for us and focus on the next game.