Phil Salt decided it was time to “pull the trigger” just before the 30-run blitz that put England on track for the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup. The former Sussex star batted brilliantly in his side’s opening Super 8 match against the West Indies in St Lucia, smashing 87 not out from 47 balls as the defending champions romped to an eight-wicket win chasing 181. The crowning moment came in the 16th over when the opener took down Romario Shepherd in merciless fashion, crashing three sixes and three fours to render the result a formality.
Although he made it look easy at the end, Salt showed plenty of heart to battle through some trickier moments after a bright start. At one stage , with the West Indies slow bowlers applying the squeeze, he allowed Jonny Bairstow to take over the aggressor’s role but knew when the time had come to make his big move against Shepherd. “It wasn’t that much fun in the middle, but it was about me batting through and waiting for my time to strike,” he said.
“That was my time to pull the trigger. In the back of my head I’d decided, but I didn’t vocalise it to Jonny because I didn’t want him to say no. I knew if I could just get through that period then we’d be in good position and I could have a good dip, a good calculated risk, at one of the seamers.
The first sniff I got, I had to take that chance.” The result leaves England in a strong position as they bid to reach the knockout stage, with two points and a healthy net r.