BRIDGETOWN: Chris Jordan’s hat-trick, followed by Jos Buttler’s swashbuckling half-century led England to crush the co-hosts USA and qualify for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 semi-final.
The defending champions chased down the 116-run target with 10 wickets in hand and 62 balls to spare.
England skipper Jos Buttler was the core aggressor of the match-winning stand while Salt was anchoring through.
Buttler smashed six fours and seven sixes on his way to an unbeaten 83 off just 38 deliveries while Salt made 25 not out in 21 balls, laced up with two fours.
Put into bat first, the USA could register 115 runs on the board despite a flying start.
The USA had a shaky start to their innings as in-form batter Andries Gous perished in the first over after scoring eight off five deliveries.
Following the early blow, Nitish Kumar and Steven Taylor formed a crucial partnership and kept the USA in control.
The pair added 34 runs off just 27 deliveries before Tom Curran dismissed Taylor to open the floodgates.
Taylor scored a scratchy 12 off 13 balls with the help of two boundaries.
The USA then lost two more wickets, including their mainstay Nitish Kumar, in quick succession and consequently slipped to 67/4 in 10.4 overs.
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Kumar remained their top-scorer with a 24-ball 30 which featured one four and two sixes.
Coming out to bat at No.5, Corey Anderson, knitted important partnerships with Milind Kumar and Harmeet Singh before he eventually fell victim to Chris Jordan on the first delivery of the penultimate over.
Anderson scored a cautious 29 off 28 deliveries while Singh made a 17-ball 21.
Chris Jordan then ran through the USA’s batting tail with a hat-trick and returned with magnificent bowling figures of 4/10 in 2.5 overs.
Besides him, Adil Rashid and Sam Curran bagged two wickets each while Reece Topley picked one.
The 10-wicket victory lifted England to the top of Group 2 of the Super Eights stage of the T20 World Cup 2024 with four points in three matches while the USA remained at rock bottom as they finished the stage with three defeats.
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