The Super Eight match of Group 2 of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2024 took place between England vs West Indies at Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet in St Lucia on Jun 19, 08:30 PM local. Phil Salt and Jonny Bairstow played swashbuckling knocks and guided England to a thrilling win over West Indies in 17.3 overs.

Put into bat first, the West Indies had a flying start as their openers Brandon King and J Charles played aggressively since the beginning of the innings. They have set the platform and stitched a 94-run stand within 11.1 overs before Charles got out for 38. Meanwhile, Nicholas Pooran came in the middle and they started resurrecting the innings also.

Rovman Powell steals the show with the bat

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Brandon King retired hurt after scoring 23 whereas Nicholas Pooran and Rovman Powell added 43 runs as well. However, Livingstone then removed Rovman Powell for 36 off 17. He also smacked 5 sixes as well. Soon Pooran got out for 36 and Adil Rashid dismissed in-form Andre Russell for a mere 1-run as well. However, it was Sherfane Rutherford who steadied the ship.

He scored a quickfire 28 off 15 balls with a boundary and 2 sixes. Their onslaught saw them posting a decent total of 180 on the board after their allotted 20 overs. Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Moeen Ali and Livingstone all picked up one wicket each. However, this was the second-highest T20I total without an individual 50-plus score for West Indies as well.

Phil Salt shines with the bat

While chasing, Phil Salt and Jos Buttler got off to a flying start. They added 67 runs in 7.4 overs before The latter got out for 25. Moeen Ali too couldn’t contribute much as well whereas Salt held the fort from one end. He took on every bowler and hit all over the park. He smashed his fifty in 38 balls whereas he changed gear soon after and the 16th over changed the game entirely.

4 6 4 6 6 4 – This was the score he smashed and reached 79 soon after. He finished with 87* off 47 with 7 fours and 5 sixes as well. On the other hand, Jonny Bairstow also smashed a 26-ball 48 with 5 fours and 2 sixes as well. And, England reached the target in 17.3 overs, winning the game by 8 wickets.

However, with this defeat, The longest winning streak (8) for West Indies in T20Is has broken too. Meanwhile, Phil Salt’s knock became the fourth-highest individual score for England in T20 World Cup. With this, he registered the most runs in ENG vs WI T20Is – 478. Also, he hit the most sixes by an England batter against an opponent (T20Is) – 32.

Player of the Match

Phil Salt said – “I like batting here, but I’m more happy to have contributed to a good team win. It was tough against spin in the middle overs, but I knew pace would come at some stage, the wind was blowing at one end, there was one short boundary and I backed myself to take on him (on his 30-run over against Shephard). There was a period where I didn’t face too many balls, the boundaries had dried up, but Jonny (Bairstow) took the pressure off me with his calculated hitting, his knock was very crucial.”