In the race to the preparation for the forthcoming T20i World Cup, Darren Sammy’s coached and 2 times Champions West Indies has firmly set their foot well with a 10 run narrow victory over Jos Buttler led England side taking a 2-0 lead in the 5 match T20i series . The West Indies team who narrowly missed the bus to the World Cup recently held in India have now strongly starting building noise in the built up to the upcoming World Cup T20is to be held in their own backyard alongside the United States of America.
The Rovman Powell led West Indian side under the management led by World Cup winning coach Darren Sammy showed grit and determination in defending a par total of 176 after chasing down 171 in the first match. The improvement in the spin bowling department comprising of Star performer of the Match Gudakesh Motie and Akeal Hossein has given West Indian team a lot of satisfaction.
Brandon King dazzles and Rovman Powell plays a breathtaking cameo
Having lost the first game batting first, England in the match won the toss and opted to field first, but Jos Buttler and his bowlers had no answer to the power of opener Brandon King , who stayed unbeaten on 82 of 52 balls. King smashed five sixes and eight fours at the top of the order ,but with the likes of Nicholas Pooran , Shai Hope and Shimron Hetmyer felling cheaply West Indies at one point found themselves reeling at 54 for the loss of 4 wickets.
Captain Rovman Powell then walked into the crease and did not hold back, hitting four sixes and one boundary in one Curran over to bring up his fifty in 22 balls before falling to the All rounder, caught while trying to clear the Boundary
Andre Russell star and Man of the match performer from the 1st T20i then smashed two sixes at the death as the West Indies piled on 72 runs in the last five overs to wrap up its innings at 176-7.
England falter in the run chase of 177 runs
Chasing 177, England got off to a poor start as captain Jos Buttler departed for just 5 with Akeal Hossein striking as early as the 3rd over. Buttler’s poor form in white-ball cricket in the recent past coinciding with England’s poor results has led to alarms bell ringing back home with only 5 months to go for their title defence in the T20 World Cup.
Philip Salt and Will Jacks played aggressively and kept England in the hunt despite Jos Buttler’s early exit. However, Alzarri Joseph stepped up and removed both the batters in his successive overs to leave West Indies in a spot of bother at 65 for 3.
Sam Curran, who walked in at No. 4, showcased his potential with the bat, hitting 50 off 32 balls. Liam Livingstone hit 17 from just 9 balls but he was not able to continue as he became Gudakesh Motie’s maiden T20I victim.
Moeen Ali threw his bat after walking in at No. 7, hitting 22 off 13 balls but it was not enough for England on Thursday.
Alzarri Joseph, picked up 3 wickets and Akeal Hossein two, but the pick of the bowlers was Motie, who gave away just 9 runs and bowled 15 dot balls in his 4-over quota.
Road Ahead for West Indies and England
Well from the 2 match concluded it would be quiet be evident to say that the Darren Sammy Management led West Indies side is on serious road on posing the threat in the upcoming World T20i in their own backyards.
On the other hand it would be fair enough to say that The Jos Buttler led England side really need to pull their socks up to win the remaining 3 T20Is against the might of West Indies in T20I format.