Jos Buttler’s side first restricted a power-packed line-up to 180 on the tournament’s best batting surface so far and then mowed down that score with 15 balls to spare courtesy a blazing knock from Phil Salt, who continued to enjoy batting in and against the West Indies. After scoring two tons in a five-match series late last year, Phil Salt finished with an unbeaten 87 tonight, an assault that also included a 30-run takedown of a Romario Shepherd over.
Phil Salt scored a devastating 87 not out , supplemented by an unbeaten 48 from Jonny Bairstow, saw England thrash West Indies by eight wickets in St Lucia. It was the kind of performance that set down a marker for the rest of the teams in the Super Eight of the T20 World Cup 2024.
Pitch and Toss
This contest has the feel of a high scoring game. Very little chance of rain today. We have a shorter boundary to the right. It is a good surface to bat, there are a few scratch marks. It is very hard with not too much live grass. There will be some extra bounce, but very true bounce so batters can cut, pull and drive more easily. We should have a good game of cricket.
England skipper Jos Buttler won the toss and chose to bowl first with one change in the squad as Mark Wood comes in for Chris Jordan. West Indies skipper Rovman Powell batting first made two changes in the squad with Roston Chase coming in for Shai Hope and Romario Shepherd coming in for Obed McCoy.
WI lose King to injury after bright start in the Powerplay
England’s bowlers began well after opting to bowl, the first two overs going for just 13 runs. A change of bats did the trick for Brandon King, who picked up a fullish delivery from Reece Topley and deposited it into the stands beyond mid-wicket. An inside-edged boundary for opening partner Johnson Charles made it two boundaries for the over and got the hosts purring.
Each of the next three featured two boundaries as West Indies raced past 50 in the PowerPlay. But they lost Brandon King in the process when he appeared to have suffered a groin strain while twisting to hit a full Sam Curran delivery through the off-side.
Played out on a fine batting deck at the Daren Sammy National Stadium, Jos Buttler opted to chase at the toss. Things looked precarious after eight overs, with West Indies getting 72 on the board for the loss of just Brandon King, who collapsed with a side strain early in the fifth over, having scored 23 off his previous 12 deliveries.
Frugal Rashid, belligerent Powell holds key in the middle overs
Nicholas Pooran began well in the post-PowerPlay phase, pulling a four off Topley and then swinging Mark Wood across the line for a six. But England hit back through spin and Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali bowled two overs for just 10 runs. Charles, who got stuck on a run-a-ball 30, attempted to break free and swung a six off Rashid but an attempted encore in the next over from Moeen resulted in a catch to long-on and his dismissal for 36.
England bossed this mini-phase of the game with the leggie Rashid giving away just 19 from his three overs. But captain Rovman Powell turned the tide of the contest with his powerful hits down the ground. First Moeen Ali was launched straight over his head for six.
When Sam Curran tried to bounce him, Powell swiveled across to pull an 89-metre six. For the 15th over, Buttler rolled the dice and brought Liam Livingstone into the attack. Powell went after Livingstone’s leg spinners and deposited him for three straight sixes. Livingstone though got the crucial wicket with his final delivery when Powell edged a slog to short third-man to fall for a 17-ball 36 (5x sixes).
A diet of spin restricted West Indies’ batters thanks to Adil Rashid – the pick of the bowlers with 1 for 21 from his four overs – and Moeen Ali, who would go on to remove Johnson Charles.
Rovman Powell, promoting himself to No. 4, took 20 from the 15th over, striking Liam Livingstone for three sixes down the ground in four deliveries. But an attempt at a fourth off Livingstone’s final ball brought his downfall, caught low at short third by Mark Wood, returning to the XI in place of Chris Jordan.
It was the first of three wickets to fall in the space of 12 deliveries for just six runs. Jofra Archer removed Nicholas Pooran caught behind in the next over, before Andre Russell nailed a Rashid googly straight to wide long on.
Excellent England keep WI down to 180 after 20 overs
That West Indies were able to reach 180 without any further loss from a position of 143 for 4 with three overs to go owes as much to Sherfane Rutherford as it does to Wood. The former was able to find 28 from 15 deliveries, 13 of them off the latter as the 18th over was taken for 19.
England rode on that big wicket of Powell to peg their hosts further back. Jofra Archer struck with his plan of angling the ball across Pooran and had the belligerent batter nicking one to the ‘keeper. Rashid then finished his outstanding spell (1-21) by getting Andre Russell to hit his slog-sweep straight to deep mid-wicket.
Romario Shepherd dragged West Indies out of the mire with a useful 15-ball 28 but with Sam Curran bowling another boundary-less over for England in the death, they were well on top at the half-way point in the game having kept a powerful line-up down to jus 180.
Buttler, Phil Salt make solid beginning in the Powerplay
Defending a sub-par 180, West Indies needed to squeeze the runs or strike early blows in the Powerplays and the pair of Phil Salt and Jos Buttler denied the hosts both. Powell had Akeal Hossein operating from one end with the seamers from the other bowling straight lines. The risk with that ploy was that bowlers occasionally got too straight and were flicked past short-fine for fours.
Against Andre Russell, Phil Salt gave himself room to free his arms and swung through the line for a straight six. Alzarri Joseph attempted a short ball on the final ball of the Powerplay and was pulled away for a six. Between all of this, Akeal matched Rashid from earlier in the game and bowled his three overs for 19. He should have had Salt on 7 but Pooran put down a sharp catch behind the stumps.
England’s pursuit began steadily enough, reaching 58 for no loss after six overs. Roston Chase’s flat delivery eventually ended the opening stand on 67, trapping Buttler in front, before Moeen came and went, batting at No. 3 for the first time since March 2023.
Phil Salt remained, and though he did end up slowing down, Bairstow was on hand to pick up the slack, striking 46 off 21 up to the 16th over. It was then that Phil Salt tagged back in, and unfurled a brutal attack on Romario Shepherd, striking the seamer for 30 with three fours and three sixes – the joint-most expensive over by a West Indian in a T20 World Cup.
The first of those boundaries brought up Phil Salt’s half-century from 38 deliveries, before he skewered any remaining jeopardy. It left West Indies to rue a half chance to remove Phil Salt on seven in the third over, when he toed a hack across the line through to Pooran, who could not hold on.
Bairstow counter-attack pushes Windies back in middle overs
Like England, West Indies began well in the first part of the middle overs. Gudakesh Motie bowled a tight seventh over and then Powell made the surprise call of bowling offspinner Roston Chase against two right-handers. But the offie held his own excellently, even finding some drift away from the batters. He trapped Buttler in front of the stumps with a full ball that the England captain got himself into a tangle trying to step out to.
Moeen Ali walked in at No.3 and took on his match-up, Motie, for a pair of fours before Andre Russell bounced him out. Jonny Bairstow got running with a pair of boundaries off Chase and Motie before taking down a wayward Joseph for a six and a four in a 14-run over. Bairstow raced away to 46 off 21 and nearly caught up with Phil Salt after taking down Akeal’s last over for 16 runs. This included a powerful sweep for four before the wind came to his rescue and carried a top-edge past midwicket.
Salt deserved the Player-of-the-Match award. But without Bairstow’s help, he – and maybe even England – might not have had something to celebrate. Salt had emerged from the powerplay with a respectable 35 off 20. But with the field spread, twirlers working in tandem and less of the strike, he had stalled. Going into the 14th over, he had scored just 12 more from 15 deliveries.
That was when Bairstow set about a jump-start. For some reason, Powell returned to Alzarri Joseph instead of persisting with the frugal Chase. Bairstow used the pace on the ball to send the first delivery over the deep midwicket fence – the longer side, no less – before ramping the next delivery for four.
Powell attempted to correct his error by bringing Akeal Hossein back on for his final over. Bairstow, though, was in an unforgiving mood. An attempted reverse sweep brought a subdued lbw appeal before a conventional sweep, a 76-metre six heaved into the stands at midwicket, and a fortuitous inside edge brought 14 from three deliveries. The 16 from the over outright made it Hossein’s most expensive of this World Cup.
It was at that point, with 40 needed from 30, that Salt set about his assault on Shepherd. Bairstow watched on from the other end, settling into the role of cheerleader as his partner went ballistic. He eventually had the honor of striking the winning run, raising his personal best at T20 World Cups to 48 not out.
Phil Salt lays into Shepherd, closes chase out
England needed 40 to win from the final five overs and Salt razed off 30 of those runs in the 16th over bowled by Shepherd. A thump over extra cover brought him his half-century before he sent a full ball straight over the bowler’s head for a six. Shepherd went short and Phil Salt ramped him over the ‘keeper’s head before duly dispatching a slot ball over long-off for six. Shepherd turned to a slower short ball which Phil Salt pulled away powerfully for six before rounding off a magnificent over by putting away a full toss for four. The end came soon enough.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Rovman Powell the loosing West Indies skipper said : 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 the winning England skipper said : 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.
Phil Salt Player of the Match for his 87 runs said : I like batting here, but I’m more happy 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 Shepherd).
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.
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’s what turned the tide even more in their favour. 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 Moeen. 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 berserk against Shepherd and took 30 off an over to kill the game. Eventually, England sailed to a comfortable victory with 15 balls to spare.
It was a clash of two heavyweights but it turned out to be a lop-sided affair. England were in tune from the moment they stepped onto the field. They make it 4 out of 4 victories at this venue. Yes, West Indies did get off to a solid start with the bat but England found ways to fight back and ended up dominating eventually.
Their death bowling was brilliant while their batting also sparkled. Salt’s exploits with the bat and Bairstow timing the ball well augurs well for them. It was a wake-up call for the Windies. They were good in phases with the bat but couldn’t translate it into a collective performance. Their bowling came under the pump in batting-friendly conditions. The excitement continues to build up as there’s another big match coming up today between India and Afghanistan.
England will stay back in St Lucia to take on South Africa in the second of their Super 8 games on June 21. West Indies will head to Barbados to take on the USA on the same day.