In a nail-biting T20 International clash held in the early hours today between England and West Indies, The West Indies beat England by 4 wickets and went 1-0 up in the series. The match, which took place at Kensington Oval, Barbados, treated the fans to a thrilling game of cricket.
Opting to field first West Indian bowlers were taken to cleaners by the English Openers. The West Indies bowlers came-back well in the later part of the innings and bowled England out at 171. Chasing 172 Openers King and Mayers set the base for the chase.
England Spinners did well to pick crucial pickets and reduced the West Indies to 123-6 but Skipper Powell and Star Allrounder Russell stitched an unbeaten partnership of 49 helping them chase down the target with more than 10 deliveries remaining.
England Openers set the tone
West Indies, after winning the toss and electing to field, were clashed by Explosive England Openers. Both Openers Buttler and Salt dominated the West Indian attack as England finished the powerplay with 77-0. Will Jacks came in and played a few big shots but could not hang in for much time. The West Indian bowlers led by Andre Russell kept check on the scoring and picked up wickets at regular intervals as England bowled out for 171 in 19.3 overs.
Andre Russell who is making a return to international cricket after two years has been the pick of the bowlers finishing with 4-0-19-3. Alzarri Joseph was expensive at the start going for 43 in his first two overs and bowled well at the end picking 3wickets. The fielding was top-notch from the West Indies as they plucked some blinders in the field.
A Rollercoaster of a Chase for West Indies
Facing a challenging target, the West Indies batsmen displayed good determination. Just like the England Openers did they gave their team a flying start. England pacers struggled to hit desirable lengths and got punished. Just when the match was slipping away from England Skipper introduced spin from both ends and they delivered the goods for their captain picking up 5 wickets in quick succession and reducing West Indies to 123-6 in 15 overs.
Adi Rashid was the pick of the bowlers picking 2 wickets and conceding just 25 runs. Allrounder Russell then joined with his skipper Powell and eased the things and scored 49 runs off just 21 deliveries helping the West Indies register a memorable victory. Russell who is been in poor form for a few years now has once again shown everyone how dangerous a player he is in the shorter format scoring 29 off just 14 balls. Russell picked the Man of the Match award after his all-round show.
Also Read: WI vs ENG: Andre Russell’s All-Round Heroics Stuns England