BRIDGETOWN: Phil Salt smashed a scintillating century and Barbados-born Jacob Bethell blasted an unbeaten 58 as England romped to an eight-wicket victory over West Indies in their opening Twenty20 clash at Kensington Oval on Saturday.

Chasing a target of 183 to win, England opener Salt guided the tourists home with 19 balls to spare after a dazzling unbeaten 103 in Bridgetown.

Salt’s third T20I century came off just 54 balls, including nine fours and six sixes as England cantered to victory, finishing on 183-2 in the 17th over.

Salt set the tone for a dominant England performance in the fourth over, bludgeoning West Indies bowler Shamar Joseph around the ground for 24 runs to take England to 52-0.

Bethell scored a dazzling 50, delighting a contingent of friends and family in the stands with a 36-ball knock that included five fours and two sixes.

All three of Salt’s international T20 centuries have come in games played at Caribbean venues against West Indies.

“I enjoy batting here — I’ve grown up on these surfaces,” Salt said. “It’s probably the place I’m happiest.”

Earlier, West Ind­ies had finished their innings on 182-9 tha­nks to a late burst of scoring from the low­er order, with Andre Russell, Romario She­p­herd and Guda­k­esh Motie accounting for 98 runs of the home side’s total.

Russell smashed four sixes on his way to 30 off 17 balls while Shepherd slas­hed an unbeaten 35 off 22 balls, incl­uding three fours and two sixes.

Shepherd received sterling support from Motie, the tailender cutting loose to score 33 off 14 balls before being caught by Dan Mousley off Saqib Mahmood.

Mahmood was the pick of England’s bowlers, taking four wickets for 34 runs off his four overs. Adil Rashid took three for 32 off four overs.

SCOREBOARD

WEST INDIES:

B. King c Overton b Mahmood 3

E. Lewis c Bethell b Mahmood 13

N. Pooran c Buttler b Overton 38

S. Hetmyer c Salt b Mahmood 0

R. Powell c Overton b Rashid 18

S. Rutherford c Buttler b Rashid 2

A. Russell c Mousley b Livingstone 30

R. Shepherd not out 35

A. Hosein lbw Rashid 2

G. Motie c Mousley b Mahmood 33

EXTRAS (LB-4, W-4) 8

TOTAL (for nine wkts, 20 overs) 182

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-11 (King), 2-18 (Lewis), 3-18 (Hetmyer), 4-59 (Powell), 5-69 (Rutherford), 6-108 (Russell), 7-110 (Pooran), 8-117 (Hosein), 9-166 (Motie)

DID NOT BAT: S. Joseph

BOWLING: Topley 2.4-0-26-0, Mahmood 4-0-34-4 (1w), Overton 3.2-0-27-1 (1w), Rashid 4-0-32-3, Mousley 1-0-7-0, Curran 3-0-31-0 (1w), Livingstone 2-0-21-1 (1w)

ENGLAND:

P. Salt not out 103

W. Jacks b Motie 17

J. Buttler c Motie b Shepherd 0

J. Bethell not out 58

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-4) 5

TOTAL (for two wkts, 16.5 overs) 183

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-73 (Jacks), 2-76 (Buttler)

DID NOT BAT: L. Livingstone, S. Curran, D. Mousley, A. Rashid, S. Mahmood, R. Topley, J. Overton

BOWLING: Hosein 4-0-20-0, Russell 2-0-27-0, Joseph 3-0-45-0 (3w), Motie 4-0-45-1, Shepherd 3.5-0-45-1 (1w)

RESULT: England won by eight wickets.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2024