A remarkable onslaught from Jonny Bairstow and Phil Salt have steered England to a commanding victory over the West Indies in their first Super 8s game at the T20 World Cup, to put the cricketing world on notice.
Having scraped through to the second stage of the tournament following Australia’s narrow group stage win over Scotland, the reigning champions appeared in serious trouble when the Windies, who breezed through their own first round undefeated, raced to 1/137 late in the 15th over, with captain Rovman Powell blasting three sixes in five Liam Livingstone balls.
However, after Powell was well caught by Mark Wood to end that over, the hosts’ innings faltered, with their eventual haul of 4/180 from their 20 overs well within reach for England; and so it would prove, with Salt and Bairstow combining for a dominant unbroken 97-run partnership to steer them over the line with nearly three overs remaining.
Needing 97 from 59 balls when Bairstow arrived at the wicket, the much-maligned veteran kept the scoreboard ticking over before launching in the 15th over, taking 16 off spinner Akeal Hosein’s final over, including a 76 metre six hit with the St Lucia breeze.
Not to be outdone, Salt upped the ante at the other end, bringing up a 38-ball half-century in a remarkable over that saw 30 runs taken from Romario Shepherd – three fours and three sixes, including a 93 metre monster.
So breathtaking was the opener’s hitting that Bairstow, on 46 with 40 still to win, would fail to reach his own half-century, though his 26-ball 48, featuring the winning runs, was just as crucial to the remarkable victory.
With points from the group stage not carrying over to the Super 8s, England may only need one win over South Africa or the USA in their coming games to make it to the semi-finals; the West Indies, meanwhile, have suffered a major setback.
Making matters worse, opener Brandon King was forced to retire hurt early in his innings with an apparent groin injury, having clubbed 23 off just 13 balls.
Earlier, South Africa beat the United States by 18 runs in the first T20 World Cup Super 8 game in Antigua as pacer Kagiso Rabada’s experience came to the fore at the end of a tense game.
Having struggled on New York’s slow pitches in the group stage, South Africa scored freely at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on Wednesday, posting 4-194 on the back of Quinton de Kock’s fine knock of 74.
In response, US opener Andries Gous (80no) provided the fireworks along with Harmeet Singh (38) down the order but Rabada picked up crucial wickets in his spell of 3-18 and restricted the run rate as the Americans fell short.
“We’ve had some tricky wickets coming up to this game and I think it’s just nice to spend some time out in the middle,” player of the match de Kock said.
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The US won the toss and opted to field first, picking up the wicket of Reeza Hendricks early but de Kock cut loose as South Africa scored at over 10 runs per over during the powerplay.
De Kock reached his half-century in 26 balls and shared a 110-run partnership with skipper Aiden Markram off 60 deliveries.
Harmeet Singh dismissed de Kock when he mistimed a full toss and was caught near the boundary and the allrounder was on a hat-trick when he had David Miller caught and bowled.
Markram fell four runs short of his fifty when he chased a wide loose ball and Ali Khan took a sharp diving catch to give Saurabh Netravalkar his second wicket.
Despite Netravalkar’s superb spell (2-21), the others failed to contain South Africa as Heinrich Klaasen dealt in sixes and scored a quick-fire 36 in an unbroken 53-run partnership with Tristan Stubbs (20) to propel them to 4-194.
Andries Gous hits a boundary in Antigua. (Photo by Jan Kruger-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)
American opener Steven Taylor (24) demonstrated his intent when he smashed a boundary off the first ball, but after four fours and a six, he fell to Rabada when a mistimed shot was caught at mid-off.
The fast bowler also dismissed Nitish Kumar, who was caught at deep square leg, and US captain Aaron Jones fell for a duck to spinner Keshav Maharaj.
Gous continued to resist, bringing up his fifty with back-to-back sixes, but the required run-rate continued to climb.
There was hope when Shamsi went for 22 in an expensive 18th over but Rabada returned to dismiss Harmeet, conceding only two runs in the penultimate over.
“It’s hard to take the defeat after getting so close. We could have been a little more disciplined bowling-wise,” Jones said.
“It could have been a closer game and we could have got over the line.”
© AAP
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