England wicketkeeper batter Philip Salt with his unbeaten 87 led England to chase down the 180-run target in 17.3 overs and helped England to register their first victory of the Super 8 stage.
After dramatically qualifying for the Super 8 stage of the 2024 T20 World Cup, England was scheduled to face West Indies to play their first match of the round on June 20 in Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia.
At the start of the game, England bowlers struggled to contain the West Indies batters for nearly 10 overs. Following the introduction of the spinners, West Indies lost wickets at regular intervals and managed to score 180 runs at the end of the inning.
While chasing, England batters played an exceptional inning by chasing the target with nearly three overs left to bowl. With the 8 wickets victory, England registered their first win of the Super 8 stage and moved to the top spot in the Super 8 points table.
Phil’s As𝗦𝗔u𝗟𝗧! ⚡
Back-to-back sixes from #PhilSalt ensured the defending champions cruised smoothly in this run chase! 👊🏻
Don’t miss the action in the 𝐒𝐔𝐏𝐄𝐑 𝟖 – World Cup ka Super Stage 👉 #AFGvIND | TODAY, 6 PM | #T20WorldCupOnStar | #WIvENG pic.twitter.com/YJ4uagluet
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) June 20, 2024
Speaking of the game, England won the toss and opted to bowl first where Brandon King and Johnson Charles opened the inning for West Indies.
The duo made a steady start by scoring five and eight in the first two overs. Brandon King slightly accelerated the inning by hitting back-to-back boundaries in Jofra Archer’s over.
A flying start by Windies in this battle of Super Strikers!🔥#BrandonKing finds back-to-back boundaries off #JofraArcher! 💪🏻
𝐒𝐔𝐏𝐄𝐑 𝟖 👉 ENGLAND 🆚 WEST INDIES | LIVE NOW | #T20WorldCupOnStar pic.twitter.com/dq2rZzlmba
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) June 20, 2024
While he was expected to continue the same in the fifth over, he got injured himself and retired hurt in the middle of the over bowled by Sam Curran. Nicholas Pooran who replaced him continued the momentum.
At the end of the first powerplay, West Indies scored 54 runs without losing a wicket. England struggles to find their first breakthrough as the Windies batters threaten the defending champions with their massive strikes.
To restrict the run flow, Jos Buttler introduced the spin attack in the ninth over and it paid off well. Adil Rashid just gave 3 runs off the first over of the spin followed by Moeen Ali who spilled seven runs without a boundary.
At the end of 10 overs, West Indies scored 82 runs without losing any wickets. Buttler’s bold move of introducing the spin attack well paid the England team as Moeen Ali dismissed Charles for 38 in the 12th over and made the first breakthrough.
Though England got their first wicket, Powell showed no mercy for the England bowlers and sealed with boundaries. His triple six in the 15th over loaded pressure over the England bowlers but Liam who bowled the over dismissed Powell in the final delivery and put an end to the big hitter.
Jofra Archer dismissed well-settled Pooran for 36 runs in the 16th over and scattered his dreams of hitting big in the death overs. Russell, who used to deal with boundaries got no chance against the England spinner Adil Rashid as he lost his wicket after scoring just one run.
While England bowlers contained runs at one end, Mark Wood handed out 19 runs in the 18th over while Windies moved beyond 150 runs mark. With a six off the final over, West Indies scored 180 for 4 wickets loss at the end of 20 overs.
While chasing, England made an impressive opening partnership by scoring 67 runs for the first wicket. England’s opening duo waited no time and pushed the team’s score to cross 50 runs mark in the first powerplay.
Roston Chase broke the opening partnership by dismissing Buttler for 25 runs and soon Moeen Ali too lost his wicket to Russell in the 11th over after scoring 13 runs.
Though England lost a couple of key batters in their 108 runs chase game, Philip Salt and Jonny Bairstow made aggressive shots towards the end of the game and chased the target in 17.3 overs with 8 wickets in hand.
England will play their next match of the tournament against South Africa on June 21 in Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia.
