Last time when England toured the West Indies shore just before the coveted ICC T20 World Cup, opening batter Phil Salt set a special date with the West Indian conditions slamming 2 back to back T20I centuries . Some months later nothing changed , the conditions , the bowling , the opposition and Phil Salt who created history by slamming his 3rd T20I century vs West Indies.
Star England batter Phil Salt created history on Saturday (Sunday IST) by becoming the first player in the world to score three centuries against one team in T20Is. He achieved the feat during the first T20I of the ongoing five-match series between England and the West Indies, which was played at Kensingston Oval in Barbados.
Phil Salt opened the inning for the Jos Buttler-led side and, with the help of nine fours and six sixes, scored 103 runs from just 54 deliveries. Thanks to his super show with the bat, England managed to chase down the target of 183 runs in just 16.5 overs and take a 1-0 lead in the series.
Pitch Report and Toss
Pitch Report : Despite holding the tag of an excellent batting track in the Caribbean, Kensington Oval has produced fewer scores of more than 200. The average score at this venue is around 160. Spinners are going to play a big role throughout the game.
The Kensington Oval hosted several T20 World Cup 2024 matches including the final between India and South Africa. In that tournament, the venue helped batters well and it also saw a score in excess of 200 in the game between Australia and England. It also has something in it for the bowlers.
The pitch at Kensington Oval is known to favor batsmen in the early overs, with a projected first innings score of 160-180. Spin bowlers could find assistance as the match progresses, especially during the middle overs. Captains are likely to choose to bat first, aiming to set a competitive target on this high-scoring surface. The forecast indicates warm and humid conditions, with a slight 30% chance of rain. Temperatures are expected to hover around 28°C, and players may face fatigue due to the tropical heat.
Toss : England skipper Jos Buttler won the toss and opted to field with Jofra Archer missing from the playing XI and Overton, Topley, Mahmood playing in the current XI. West Indies skipper Rovman Powell batting first had Shepherd, Russell the all-rounders. Motie and Akeal the spinners, Shamar Joseph the fast bowler and from a batting point of view Hetmyer at bat No. 4 in the Playing XI.
Saqib Mahmood’s career best 4-fer restricts WI to 182 for 9 in 20 overs
Saqib Mahmood struck early when Brandon King, a centurion as West Indies won the third and final ODI for a 2-1 series win, slammed his fifth ball – the 11th of the match – straight to short cover. In his next over, Mahmood had two wickets in as many balls as Bethell took an excellent low catch running in from the rope at deep backward square to remove Evin Lewis and then luring Shimron Hetmyer with a superb length ball that moved away ever so slightly as it took an edge through to Phil Salt.
It was quite the comeback from Mahmood, playing just his third T20I since January 2022 after suffering two stress fractures in his back. His two other matches in the format since had yielded 2 for 21 and no wicket for 37 against Australia in September, but now he had 3 for 12 from two overs.
Meanwhile fellow seamer Reece Topley conceded 20 runs from 15 balls, including Powell’s nurdled four through deep third then six over square leg immediately before Topley slipped in his follow-through clutching his right knee. Topley was visibly limping as a brief rain shower arrived, sending the players from the field for just over half an hour.
Topley returned after the stoppage, only to be greeted by a lofted drive for six by Powell and that was enough to send the bowler from the field for the rest of the innings with what was later confirmed as a jarred knee as Jamie Overton finished his third over. Mahmood returned to have his figures blighted by conceding 18 runs off his third over, Pooran heaving over the fence at wide long-on, threading four through deep backward point and swinging over deep midwicket for another six.
West Indies were in early trouble at 18/3 after being put into bat. Saqib Mahmood (4-34) struck thrice with the new ball to put the home side under pressure. Brandon King was the first to fall as his attempted step out drive picked out short cover. Mahmood’s next over saw a double strike as Evin Lewis and Shimron Hetmyer fell off successive deliveries to jolt the Windies. Adil Rashid (3-32) ensured that England chipped away at the wickets as West Indies slipped to 69/5 and 117/8 later on.
Adil Rashid entered the attack in the seventh over and struck with his second ball, Powell going big again but unable to clear a leaping Overton just inside the boundary at long-on. Although he had handed the wicketkeeping gloves to Salt, returning captain Buttler sprung with the reflexes of a cat to snare a brilliant one-handed catch at slip in Rashid’s next over to remove Rutherford.
Pooran and Russell forged a defiant partnership, Russell slamming back-to-back sixes off Rashid and moving to a 16-ball 30. But Liam Livingstone managed to end their union when he responded to seeing his third ball deposited back over his head for six by having Russell caught at deep cover by Dan Mousley. Pooran followed for 38, falling to another spectacular catch by Buttler, launching himself high and twisting in the air in the covers off Overton.
West Indies looked determined to go down blazing. Rashid claimed his third when he pinned Akeal Hossein at the second attempt with an excellent leg-break. But just as it looked like the hosts’ fightback might fizzle, Motie strode to the crease at No. 10 and struck 16 runs off the first three balls he faced, including back-to-back sixes off Rashid.
He had raced to 33 off just 14 balls by the time Mahmood had him caught on the deep midwicket boundary to claim his fourth wicket of the match. It ended Motie’s ninth-wicket stand with Shepherd, who ended with an unbeaten 35 off 22, their union helping West Indies to a total which had seemed so unlikely earlier.
Nicholas Pooran (38 off 29) tried to hold the innings together but when he became the seventh wicket to fall, West Indies were in danger of finishing on a below-par total. However, powerful cameos from Andre Russell (30 off 17), Romario Shepherd (35* off 22) and Gudakesh Motie (33* off 14) gave a strong finish for the home side.
The depth of the batting order came to West Indies’ rescue as England’s death bowling struggled to find their radar. Unfortunately for the hosts, 182 proved to little as Phil Salt made a mockery of the run chase in the second half.
Phil Salt’s record 3rd century hands England a 8 wicket win over WI to go up 1-0 in the series.
The tone to the run chase was set by a rollicking PowerPlay in which the visitors smashed 73 runs with Will Jacks falling off the final ball of the sixth over. His innings, however, was just second fiddle as Phil Salt ran riot from the get-go.
Akeal Hossein was given respect for his nagging lines and lengths but Phil Salt tore into the other bowlers, notably Shamar Joseph who conceded 24 off his opening over. Skipper Jos Buttler’s international comeback didn’t go to plan as he fell for a golden duck to Romario Shepherd. His dismissal closely followed Jacks’ and it was a period where West Indies would have hoped to pull things back
When Phil Salt struck five consecutive boundaries off Joseph to take his side past the 50-mark in the fourth over of the run-chase, England looked all business. Phil Salt brought up his own half-century off 25 balls with the second of three sixes to come off Motie’s first over, crunched over deep midwicket before Will Jacks launched the third over long-on. Jacks fell on the next ball, bowled middle stump attempting to sweep, but by that time England had closed out the powerplay at 73 for 1, compared to West Indies’ 58 for 3.
Motie couldn’t stay away from the action, his brilliant one-handed take at third removing Jos Buttler, batting at No. 3 on his return to action after a five-month injury lay-off, for a first-ball duck.
For all his big hitting, Phil Salt’s deft punch for four just behind backward point off Joseph in the ninth over was prettier than any of his four sixes up to that moment and highlighted the range of shots which comprised his innings. Jacob Bethell mimicked the shot, slightly finer off Shepherd, as he settled into just his third innings in T20Is, playing the perfect supporting role to Phil Salt, his unbeaten 58 coming off 36 balls and including an elegant six over cover off the penultimate ball.
However, Jacob Bethell got into his work instantly and the left-right combination thwarted West Indies’ plans. The extraordinary PowerPlay meant that the scoreboard pressure wasn’t much of a factor and both batters took a measured approach while also not letting the bowlers settle. The surface also eased out with not much help on offer for the bowlers, particularly the spinners. Ultimately, West Indies had no ideas to the onslaught and were arguably about 20-25 runs short of a competitive total.
He followed that immediately with the winning runs, pulling Shepherd for two to seal victory with 3.1 overs to spare. Phil Salt had moved into the nineties swinging Shepherd to square leg, where the ball shot through the fingertips of Sherfane Rutherford as he tumbled over the boundary for six more before he brought up his ton in what turned out to be the last over of the game with four down the ground. It was Phil Salt’s third century in T20Is, all of them coming in the Caribbean against West Indies.
Phil Salt, who was released by Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of the upcoming IPL 2025 mega auction in Jeddah, scored his first T20I century (109* from 56 balls) against the Men in Maroon on December 16, 2023, in St George’s, and his second T20I century (119 from 57 balls) against them was on December 19, 2023, in Tarouba.
Australia’s Glenn Maxwell, West Indies’ Evin Lewis, UAE’s Muhammad Waseem, and Serbia’s Leslie Dunbar have scored two centuries each against one team in T20Is. While Maxwell and Lewis have two centuries each to their name in the shortest format of the game against India, Waseem has twice crossed the three-figure mark against Ireland.
Phil Salt, who is all set to be part of the IPL 2025 mega auction, will not be short of suitors and is expected to trigger a massive bidding war between multiple franchises for acquisition of his services.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Jos Buttler the winning skipper said : Fantastic performance. Clinical from Salt and Bethell there. We know what to expect here from West Indies, we knew they’d come hard so we were only chasing wickets. Salt has been outstanding, he really enjoys playing West Indies. Sure there are even more heights he can get to.
We knew they were hard to shut down in the powerplay, but Saqib Mahmood hit the right lengths and got us wickets. Fantastic place to tour, great opportunity for our younger boys to take it all in and showcase their talents.
Rovman Powell the losing skipper said : (On the batting approach) Too early to call. Tonight it didn’t come off but without our best batting performance we managed 180. We lost wickets in clusters, and that was the exact thing we wanted to avoid.
Everybody likes the way we want to play, we just want to keep pushing towards playing in a direction we want to play. They need to work on their individual skills and come out here and execute. Always good playing England here in Barbados, the crowds turn up and it makes for good cricket.
Phil Salt Player of the Match for his century said : (On West Indies getting the best out of him) I’m not sure to be honest, it is the place I’m probably the happiest. Grown up on these surfaces. Really enjoyed playing 50 over cricket but you have to adjust quickly. Need to be really specific in training.
(On his off side play) I have tried a few things, opening up my grip to access different parts of the ground. (On Bethell) He is a huge talent, he doesn’t seem like a 21-year old lad. He feels like a guy who’s already played a 100 games, lovely feather to have in our cap.
A clinical chase for England as they made light work of the West Indies total. Just like the World Cup, it was Phil Salt who proved to be the match winner, as he scored his third century against this opposition to help England get over the line with more than three overs to spare. The visitors bossed the powerplay with Phil Salt doing the bulk of the scoring as he took Shamar Joseph and Motie to the cleaners. Jacks tried his bit from the other end, but he was dismissed off the last ball of the powerplay.
A returning Buttler perished for a first ball duck, but that didn’t stop England. Jacob Bethell joined Salt and played an innings of great poise as he scored an eye catching fifty on the ground where he has spent a bulk of his childhood. England were never in danger in this chase despite those two wickets falling close to each other, as they amassed the highest successful chase at Kensington Oval.
A superb unbeaten century by Phil Salt led England to a convincing eight-wicket victory over West Indies for a 1-0 lead in their five-match T20I series in Barbados.
Saqib Mahmood took career-best figures of 4 for 34, including three wickets in the powerplay and a tight over at the death, but in the meantime West Indies blitzed their way through three key partnerships to set England a lofty target, despite having lurched to 117 for 8.
Nicholas Pooran, who top-scored for the hosts, and captain Rovman Powell put on 41 runs together from just 17 balls but it was Pooran and Andre Russell who defied a steady flow of wickets to add 39 from 26 and then tailenders Gudakesh Motie and Romario Shepherd with 49 off 26 who pumped up the hosts.
Their efforts were ultimately futile, however, in the face of Phil Salt’s remarkable 103 not out off just 54 balls in which he attacked from the outset, helping himself to 22 runs off one Shamar Joseph over and never looked back.
It was a case of two second-home lads doing good as Phil Salt, who spent six of his pre-teen and teenage years living in Barbados, shared an unbroken 107-run stand with Jacob Bethell, the latter raising his maiden T20I fifty to enthusiastic support from the crowd, having been born and raised in Barbados up to the age of 13. England have bossed the hosts taking the 1-0 lead in the series. WI would have less than 24 hours to bounce back at the same venue for the 2nd T20I.