England continued their dominance in the T20I arena against West Indies as well. The opening T20I match was won by the British by a decent margin of 21 runs. The highly experienced all-rounder Liam Dawson took a 4-wicket haul and dented West Indies’ star-studded battlng line-up. Liam Dawson made a comeback to the T20I side after the 2022 T20I series against Pakistan.
West Indies, on the other hand, would be crestfallen as a below-par target of 189 runs wasn’t accomplished. West Indies, despite having a lot of pinch hitters, lacks a middle-order batter who can provide stability to the team in the middle overs. West Indies have yet to win a match in England so far after getting whitewashed in ODIs by 3-0.
Jos Buttler’s rampant knock blasts West Indies
England’s newly appointed skipper Harry Brook was quite happy to bat first against the West Indies at Chester-le-Street. England though got off to a not-so-great start with Ben Duckett dismissed on 1 run in 4 balls. The promotion of Jamie Smith up the order again paid dividends. The wicket-keeper batter, along with Jos Buttler, dismantled the West Indies bowling line-up and notched up 78 runs in powerplay overs for the loss of a wicket.
The veteran Jason Holder wasn’t able to contain the batter, nor was Alzarri Joseph. The duo was taken by cleaners by Jos Buttler, who looked unperturbed by the sheer pace. Jamie Smith & Jos Buttler didn’t allow any bowler to settle in. Jamie Smith’s powerful cameo of 38 runs in 20 balls struck as England’s score was 95-2 in 8 overs.
It seemed as if it was Jos Buttler vs the West Indies; Buttler did the bulk of the scoring. The likes of Harry Brook & Tom Banton didn’t trouble the scorers at all. England was in a spot of bother at 116-4 in 11.4 overs. West Indies’ clawed their way back in the game but it looked as if Buttler was batting in an altogether different surface.
Jacob Bethell continued his aggressive brand of cricket as he survived the short ball barrages of Joseph & Holder. In the last 4 overs, England scored 32 runs for the loss of 2 wickets. England’s batting line up was way too much dependent on Buttler who scored 96 runs in 59 balls with 6 fours and 4 sixes. England.
Liam Dawson spins a web
West Indies’ got off to a shaky start to their run chase of 189 runs with 2 wickets being lost for 44 runs in first 6 overs. Evin Lewis & Roston Chase tried to put the run chase on track. Evin Lewis in particular took on Jacob Bethell & Matthew Potts to all parts of the ground.
At one stage, West Indies’ score was 91-3 in 10 overs & they needed another 98 runs to win. In the 9th & 10th over, West Indies scared 37 runs. Liam Dawson in the 12th over, got huge scalps of Sherfane Rutherford & Roston Chase which drastically changed the complexion of the match as West Indies needed 88 runs to win from 8 overs.
Liam Dawson made the most of a call-up as in the 14th over, he got rid of the powerful pinch hitter Rovman Powell as he crashed his stumps. West Indies had a tragic collapse from 91-4 in 10 overs to 115-4 in 13.4 overs which helped England to have an upper hand in the contest.
The deep batting line up of West Indies gave them a lot of options, but they weren’t effective in winning the match. In the last 5 overs, West Indies needed 67 runs to win from 5 overs & there was Andre Russell present at the crease with Gudakesh Motie. Adil Rashid though foxed Motie and in last 4 overs, the equation was slowly getting out of hand the West Indies with requiring another 59 runs to win.
Brook’s decision to bring in Jacob Bethell for 17th over was a master-stroke that castled Andre Russell’s stumps. Russell played an unbelievable knock of 15 runs in 13 balls and it looked a long distant dream for West Indies to win the match.. There was some power-hitting done by Jason Holder but West Indies fell short by 21 runs.
What lies ahead for the West Indies & England
West Indies need to quickly pull their socks up. We can say that the West Indies were in the match for more than 50% of the game. When spinners came into attack, the batters looked clueless against the foxy & deceptive deliveries. The 2nd T20I match is on Sunday, 8th March 2025 at Bristol which is yet another high-scoring game. It would sound harsh but even after having so many pinch hitters, Caribbean batters looked in all sorts of trouble against a not-so-strong and lethal spin & fast bowling attack.
England on the other hand almost had lost the game. The batting line up is quite heavily reliant on Jos Buttler which is not a sustainable option ahead of T20 WC 2026. The skipper Harry Brook needs to gets his eye in before playing aggressive brand of cricket. The biggest positive for England was the rise of Liam Dawson who rose the occasion and showed that he is not done yet. Not many know Liam Dawson was a part of ICC ODI WC 2019 winning squad.
Also Read: ENG vs WI: Jason Holder & Andre Russell Back For T20Is Against England