Cricket
WI vs ENG: Salt, Bairstow guide England to comfortable 8-wicket win over West Indies
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Phil Salt and Jonny Bairstow ensured England started their Super 8 campaign at the T20 World Cup with a comfortable 8-wicket win over hosts West Indies. England, who scraped through to the Super 8s, didn’t show any signs of a team being in poor form as they dominated West Indies with both bat and ball to secure the win with 15 balls remaining.
England had won the toss on the night and opted to bowl first. The West Indies openers were off to a timid start in the first two overs, before Brandon King decided it was time to unleash himself after a change of bats. The opener hit a 101-metre six and followed it up with 3 boundaries before disaster struck. While batting on 23, King was struck with what seemed like a groin injury and he had to go off the field. Nicholas Pooran and Johnson Charles consolidated things before Charles started to cut loose.
However, the England bowlers did have a grip on things and kept Charles and Pooran in check as they started to make a comeback in the middle overs. Once Charles fell for 38, Powell promoted himself up the order and played an incredible cameo. While Pooran struggled at the other end, Powell hit 5 sixes in his cameo of 36 from 17 balls with three of them coming in the over of Liam Livingstone. Just when it seemed like the hosts were set for a score close to 200 or above, England pegged them back.
Powell ultimately fell to Livingstone in the same over before Jofra Archer came in to get the wicket of Pooran, who scored 34 off 31 balls. England then put themselves in the driver’s seat as Adil Rashid baited Andre Russell with a ball outside off-stump, forcing all-rounder to hit one straight to the fielder.
Sherfane Rutherford’s cameo of 28 from 15 got West Indies to 180 runs, but the score seemed to be below par at that time.
England came into the chase with the aim of getting as many runs as possible in the powerplay overs. Salt, who had 2 back-to-back hundreds the last time he toured the Caribbean, took on the charge against the West Indies bowlers and even hit his KKR teammate Andre Russell for a 100 metre six. England ended the powerplay with 58 on the board with the loss of no wickets and the platform was well set for the rest.
Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali’s wickets gave West Indies some hope, but Bairstow ensured that it was quickly extinguished. Salt and Bairstow took the game away from the hosts in quick time. Salt slowed down a bit but quickly took over the initiative and smashed Shepherd for 30 runs and effectively ended the game for England.
Salt would remain unbeaten on 87 to guide his side home in the end as Bairstow remain unbeaten on 48.
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