After a slightly soggy stumble out of the initial group stage, England’s defence of the men’s T20 World Cup finally kicked into life, with a clinical run chase against the highly-fancied West Indies delivering the ideal start to the Super Eight stage. Victory alone would have seen Jos Buttler’s side board the bus feeling good about life given the battle to simply reach this point. But the manner in which it was secured will have put the rest of the field on notice; a target of 181 reeled in with 15 balls and eight wickets to spare thanks to an utterly ruinous 47-ball knock of 87 not out from opener Phil Salt.
England v West Indies: T20 Cricket World Cup – as it happened Read more Although Jonny Bairstow would probably like a word here. The Yorkshireman has been bristling this past week, irked by the criticism that followed the 36-run defeat to Australia in Barbados. Striding out with England 84-2 at the halfway stage, his unbeaten 48 from 26 was just as key to the net run-rate boost delivered.
After England’s next opponents South Africa could only secure a tight win over the USA earlier in the day, this could yet prove critical in the final shake-up for the top-two spots. Bairstow had even threatened to overtake Salt at one stage, getting to within one hit of a half-century by smoking the 15th over from Akeal Hosein for 16 runs to leave 40 more required. But bar a couple more singles that was pretty much it from Bairstow, as Salt, then on 49, responded by taking Rom.