Fans were in for a treat as the hosts West Indies (WI) and team England (ENG) scored massively to make up for some of the paucity of runs scored by batters in the early going of the T20 World Cup 2024. The cricket match took place in St. Lucia and was an incredible thrilling spectacle. The teams squared off on Thursday, June 20, in the Super Eight stage.
Against a West Indian team that was playing well, the defending champs decided to field first after winning the toss. Johnson Charles and Brandon King both began the game cautiously at first, but the former chose to take a flyer because he was feeling uneasy. King, trying to slam Sam Curran through to the cover area, was injured and had to be retired after scoring 23 off just 13 balls. Following spinner Moeen Ali’s (1/15) key dismissal of Johnson Charles (38 off 34 balls), England had to work till the game’s 12th over.
West Indies were guided to a respectable total by skipper Rovman Powell and Nicholas Pooran.
In order to calm the ship for the West Indies, captain Rovman Powell (36 off 17 balls) and Nicholas Pooran (36 off 32 balls) then took the momentum ahead. Ultimately, Sherfane Rutherford’s nifty hitting provided the icing on the cake, helping West Indies reach 180/4 in their 20-over target.
Following a solid partnership with captain Jos Buttler, which ended with Buttler being removed by the determined off-spinner Roston Chase in the eighth over, England’s opener Phil Salt began hitting the bowlers for fun. not too long after. The hosts were able to regain control of the game when Andre Russell also dismissed Moeen Ali. But then came Jonny Bairstow (48* off 26 balls), who quickly began scoring with his capable partner in Salt.
In the sixteenth over, Phil Salt scored thirty runs.
The game appeared to be hanging in the balance up until the 14th over as the West Indies attempted to slow down the pace of scoring in an effort to stay in it. However, Phil Salt (87* off 47 balls) had other ideas and hammered Romario Shepherd for 30 runs in the 16th over to put England in position to win. When England easily defeated the hosts by eight wickets in the eighteenth over, it was too late for the hosts to turn the tide of the match in their favour and send a message to the other teams that remained to face them.
To set an example for other teams before beginning their Super Eight campaign in the forthcoming T20 World Cup 2024 matches, the West Indies defeated Afghanistan by an overwhelming 104 runs in the end.
Phil Salt, Player of the Match:
“Not looking too far ahead. Glad to contribute to the win. It was a little tough in the middle with the spin. But Bairstow spoke to me, and had those words in my mind. Did not take on the spinners, and cashed on at the back end. Lot of different factors that can affect an innings. There was a period where I did not face a lot of balls, but important to stick around and carry on. Jonny was fantastic, took pressure off me by taking calculated risk. Couldn’t be happier as a team-mate.”
Rovman Powell, Losing Captain:
“You have to look at it from batting perspective. We left 15-20 runs. Needed a better display as a bowling group. We are generally good in the last five overs. The execution wasn’t good, need to re-evaluate. Hopefully King can pull through for the next two games. Those chances are always difficult. Credit to Salt, he always hurts us. We fell away from our plans to Phil. Need to look back and evaluate. Our destiny is in our own hands, just for us to continue playing some good cricket.”
Jos Buttler, Winning Captain:
“That was a really good performance. We were practicing well, executed well today. [Chasing 180] We bowled well to restrict a powerful batting line up. We were smart with the bat, the guys were calculative. Bairstow-Salt partnership was very good. Jonny took the game deep and Salty broke it with that one over. That’s why we brought Jof [Archer] back there with Pooran and Russell in.
We wanted to use him to get a wicket or restrict them and make the back five really difficult. [Rashid] He has been all the time. He is our most important player. Has so much variations and restricts runs. Jonny batted at No. 4 today, class player for a really long time. You keep backing class players. Incredible, mature, senior player’s innings. People say you learn when you lose, but you learn when you win as well. Important to put this to bed and focus now.”
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