Phil Salt powers England to dominant victory over West Indies

SAINT LUCIA: Phil Salt played a scintillating unbeaten knock of 87 runs to power England to a thumping eight-wicket victory over West Indies in the second Super Eights match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 here on Wednesday.

Chasing a mammoth 181, Salt and Jonny Bairstow helped England achieve the target with 15 balls to spare.

The defending champions got a fiery start to the chase courtesy of a 67-run opening stand between Salt and skipper Jos Buttler.

Salt, being the chief contributor struck 40 off 24, while Buttler scored 25 off 22 before falling prey to Roston Chase in the eighth over.

Moeen Ali came out to bat but could only score 13 off 10 with two boundaries.

Bairstow then joined Salt and together they ripped apart West Indies’ bowling lineup with an unbeaten 97-run partnership from 44 balls.

England needed 40 off the last five overs, however, Salt completely tilted the game in his team’s favour as he struck 30 runs off Romario Shepherd in the 16th over with three sixes and three fours.

Salt finished his innings with an unbeaten 87 off 47, knitted with seven boundaries and five sixes, meanwhile, Bairstow, who scored the winning runs, amassed 48 runs from 26 balls with five boundaries and two sixes.

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After being invited to bat, West Indies opening batter Brandon King gave his side a decent start with a 23-run cameo off 13 balls with the help of three boundaries and one six.

However, King retired hurt in 4.2 overs with 40 runs on board, bringing last match’s hero Nicholas Pooran to the crease.

Pooran joined hands with a settled Johnson Charles, who was playing at 13, and together they added 54 runs for the second wicket partnership.

England bowlers bowled tight lines to keep both batters under check and kept the scoring rate low, which incited Charles to attack Moeen Ali only to get caught by Harry Brook.

Charles top-scored with a 34-ball 38, laced with four boundaries and one six.

West Indies skipper Rovman Powell then smashed five sixes during his entertaining 17-ball knock of 36 runs, including three sixes to Liam Livingstone before getting out while attempting a fourth one.

Pooran fell prey to Jofra Archer in the next over after scoring 36 off 32, featuring four boundaries and one six.

Sherfane Rutherford then scored a quick 28 off 15 with one boundary and two sixes to push his team’s total to 180-4 in their allocated 20 overs.

For England, Archer, Livingstone, Ali and Adil Rashid bagged one wicket each.

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