ENG VS WI - 42nd Match, Super 8 Group 2, ICC Mens T20 World Cup 2024

It was a clash of two heavyweights but it turned out to be a lop-sided affair. England were in tune from the moment they stepped onto the field. They make it 4 out of 4 victories at this venue. Yes, West Indies did get off to a solid start with the bat but England found ways to fight back and ended up dominating eventually. Their death bowling was brilliant while their batting also sparkled. Salt's exploits with the bat and Bairstow timing the ball well augurs well for them. It was a wake-up call for the Windies. They were good in phases with the bat but couldn't translate it into a collective performance. Their bowling came under the pump in batting-friendly conditons. The excitement continues to build up as there's another big match coming up today between India and Afghanistan. Don't forget to tune into for that one. This is Abhinav Guha signing off on behalf of Pradeep Krishnamurthy, Saurabh Shankar, and Praveen Kumar. Until next time, goodbye and cheers!

Jos Buttler | England captain - That's a really good performance from us, we executed well with both bat and ball. I thought we bowled really well to restrict such a powerful batting line-up, still we had to chase it down. but smart play from us. The partnership between Salt and Bairstow was great. I brought Jof back there, Pooran and Russell coming in, two of the best batters in the world, so we brought our best bowler back in. (On Adil Rashid) He's a really important player, he has got so many variations and restricts runs. He batted at No. 4 today, he is a class player and we have decided to keep backing our class players. It was an incredible innings, a mature senior player's innings, he batted with a lot of power. A lot of people say you learn when you lose but I also feel you learn when you win, important to reflect on our performance and look back what worked for us and focus on the next game.

Rovman Powell | West Indies captain - When you look from the batting perspective, we were 15-20 runs short. We could have given a better display with the ball as a bowling group. We couldn't capitalise in the last five overs but credit to the English bowlers, they executed their plans very well. (On Brandon King's injury) Just a bit worried, but hopefully he can pull through for the next game. It's always difficult, every time he plays against WI, he hurts us. We couldn't execute our plans against Phil. Our destiny is in our own hands and we need to win well, we need to continue playing good cricket.

England’s run-chase
Overs 1-6: 58/0 (RR: 9.67)
Overs 7-11: 33/2 (RR: 6.5)
Overs 12-17.3: 90/0 (RR: 13.84)

Biggest win margin for ENG in T20 WC (by wickets)
By 10 wickets vs India, Adelaide, 2022 SF
By 8 wickets vs Australia, Dubai, 2021
By 8 wickets vs Bangladesh, Abu Dhabi, 2021
By 8 wickets vs Oman, North Sound, 2024
By 8 wickets vs West Indies, Gros Islet, 2024

Phil Salt vs West Indies in T20Is
Inns: 9
Runs: 478
Avg: 68.28
SR: 186.71
50s/100s: 2/2
4s/6s: 34/32
Salt has hit a four or a six in roughly every four balls in T20Is against West Indies.

Most sixes by an England batter against an opponent (T20Is)
32 - Phil Salt vs WI
26 - Eoin Morgan vs NZ
25 - Jos Buttler vs AUS
24 - Jos Buttler vs SA

Most runs in ENG vs WI T20Is
478 - Phil Salt (9 innings)
423 - Alex Hales (13 innings)
422 - Chris Gayle (14 innings)
420 - Nicholas Pooran (15 innings)
390 - Jos Buttler (16 innings)

Highest individual scores for England in T20 WC
116* - Alex Hales vs SL, Chattogram, 2014
101* - Jos Buttler vs SL, Sharjah, 2021
99* - Luke Wright vs AFG, Colombo RPS, 2012
87* - Phil Salt vs WI, Gros Islet, 2024
86* - Alex Hales vs IND, Adelaide, 2022

Longest winning streaks for West Indies in T20Is
8 - 2024 (streak ended today)
7 - 2012-2013
5 - 2017
4 - 2015-2016

Most expensive overs in Men’s T20 WC
36 - Stuart Broad (ENG) vs IND, Durban, 2007
36 - Azmatullah Omarzai (AFG) vs WI, Gros Islet, 2024
33 - Jeremy Gordon (CAN) vs USA, Dallas, 2024
32 - Izatullah Dawlatzai (AFG) vs ENG, Colombo (RPS), 2012
30 - Bilawal Bhatti (PAK) vs AUS, Mirpur, 2014
30 - Romario Shepherd (WI) vs ENG, Gros Islet, 2024

Phil Salt | Player of the Match - 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 Shepherd). 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.

23:49 Local Time, 03:49 GMT, 09:19 IST: England have lit up the T20 World Cup with a resounding victory. West Indies' 8-match winning streak comes to an end. The Windies batters were not quite on the money tonight. 5 of their top 6 batters got off to starts but couldn't make a substantial impact. England's death bowling was brilliant and that's what turned the tide even more in their favour. 180 on a good batting deck was a bit under-par and England proved that in their run-chase. Salt and Buttler took their side off to a great start navigating through the powerplay in style. It was Chase who got the better of the English skipper and Russell struck soon after to get rid of Moeen. But by then, England were in firm control of the match. Bairstow played fluently from the moment he came in and that made things even easier for the Englishmen. Salt raised a fifty and changed gears thereafter. He went berserk against Shepherd and took 30 off an over to kill the game. Eventually, England sailed to a comfortable victory with 15 balls to spare.

Alzarri Joseph to Bairstow, 1 run, the defending champions make a strong statement! They had a difficult entry to the Super 8s but they have showed their class today. On a back of a length outside off, Bairstow pulls it to deep mid-wicket to complete the formalities. Big smiles in the English camp

Alzarri Joseph to Philip Salt, 1 run, the scores are level now! Shortish delivery angling in, Philip Salt slogs across the line and top-edges it. It falls well short of deep backward square leg

Alzarri Joseph to Philip Salt, 2 runs, Philip Salt makes room and Alzarri Joseph follows him with a slower one. He miscues the pull through mid-wicket and comes back for the second

Alzarri Joseph [2.0-0-28-0] is back into the attack

Motie to Bairstow, no run, coming in with the arm, Bairstow doesn't have space to free his arms and punches it straight to extra cover

Motie to Bairstow, no run, on a back of a length around off, chopped to backward point

Motie to Bairstow, no run, Bairstow backs away and drives the in-drifter to extra cover

Motie to Philip Salt, 1 run, on a back of a length on off, Philip Salt punches it to long-on

Motie to Philip Salt, FOUR, England just one hit away now! On the shorter side outside off, Philip Salt hangs back and plays a cracking cut shot past backward point to get the desired result

Motie to Bairstow, 1 run, on a length on off, Bairstow punches it past extra cover

Gudakesh Motie [3.0-0-26-0] is back into the attack