West Indies defeated England to clinch the ODI series after 25 years at home. This time, the Caribbeans have made a good start in the T20I series. Rovman Powell’s team won easily against England thanks to the all-round skill of Andre Russell, who returned to the team after almost two years.
West Indies beat England by 4 wickets in the first T20I of the series at Bridgetown on Wednesday (December 13). Earlier today, England were bowled out for 171 runs in 19.3 overs. In response, West Indies won with 4 wickets in hand and 17 balls to spare with the storm of captain Rovman Powell and Russell.
Batting first after losing the toss, openers Philip Salt and Jos Buttler gave England a fantastic start. The two added 77 runs in the powerplay. However, England lost their wicket on the first ball of the seventh over. Coming back to the team, Andre Russell took the ball in hand and sent off the dangerous-looking Salt. He scored 40 runs off 20 balls with 6 fours and 1 six.
Will Jacks also started to play relentlessly when he came to the crease. But Alzarri Joseph sent him back. He scored 17 runs off 9 balls with 2 sixes. Team captain Jos Buttler also departed with 117 runs. The England captain scored 39 off 31 balls, hitting 5 fours and 1 six, before being picked up by Akeal Hosein.
After Buttler’s departure, England suffered double blows. Harry Brook scored only 1 run. Ben Duckett scored 14 runs. The English lost 5 wickets for 129 runs. Liam Livingstone and Sam Curran put up resistance in the sixth-wicket partnership. The pair added 36 runs to England’s scorecard. Romario Shepherd broke this pair by getting rid of Curran who scored 13 runs from 14 balls.
Livingstone left scoring just 2 runs. He was bowled by Russell after scoring 27 runs in 1 four and 2 sixes. Russell returned Rehan Ahmed as well. After coming to bowl in the 20th over, Joseph picked up the wickets of Adil Rashid and Tymal Mills in two consecutive balls.
Russell seized 3 wickets with only 19 runs in 4 overs for West Indies. Joseph took 3 wickets but gave 54 runs in 3.3 overs. Shepherd picked up 2 wickets with 22 runs in 4 overs. Besides, Holder and Akeal got 1 wicket each.
In reply, the Caribbeans lost the wicket of Brandon King, who stormed in the third over. He became a victim of Chris Woakes, hitting 2 fours and sixes, 22 runs from 12 balls. The Caribbeans scored 59 runs without losing any wickets in 6 overs of the power play.
Kyle Mayers and Shai Hope formed a great duo. Runs were also coming at a great pace. But on the first ball of the eighth over, Rashid sent off Mayers. He scored 35 runs off 21 balls with 4 sixes.
West Indies completed 100 runs in the first ball of the 11th over. But right after that, they lost the wicket of Nicholas Pooran. This wicketkeeper-batsman became the victim of Rehan by scoring 13 runs off 12 balls. Rashid forced Shimron Hetmyer (1) to give Duckett a catch in the next over.
At this time, the speed of West Indies’ runs decreased a little. Hope and Shepherd were dismissed in the 15th over of Rehan’s. Hope, who scored 36 off 30 balls with 2 fours and 3 sixes, was caught by Brook. And Shepherd was caught by Curran before opening the run book.
However, Russell joined captain Powell after coming to the crease. Returning to the team after a gap of almost 2 years, Russell made a big contribution to demolish England first with the ball. Later, he picked up the bat to finish the thing off. The pair of Powell and Russell collected the required 49 runs to win in just 27 balls.
Captain Powell scored 31 runs off 15 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes. Russell remained unbeaten with 2 fours and sixes; he made 29 runs from 14 balls.
For England, Rehan Ahmed took 3 wickets with 39 runs in 4 overs. Adil Rashid picked up 2 wickets for just 25 runs in 4 overs. The remaining wicket went to Chris Woakes. Andre Russell was selected player of the match for scanning up 3 wickets conceding 17 runs and collecting 29 runs with the bat.
England – 171/10 (19.3)
West Indies – 172/6 (18.1)
Result – West Indies won by 4 wickets
Player of the match – Andre Russell
Andre Russell
West Indies | Rovman Powell (c), Nicholas Pooran (wk), Brandon King, Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer, Andre Russell, Kyle Mayers, Romario Shepherd, Akeal Hosein, Jason Holder, and Alzarri Joseph. |
England | Jos Buttler (c & wk), Will Jacks, Philip Salt, Ben Duckett, Liam Livingstone, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Rehan Ahmed, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, and Tymal Mills. |
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