England vs West Indies: Andre Russell leads hosts to emphatic four-wicket victory in first IT20
In the beginning game of the T20 series in Bridgetown, West Indies won by four wickets thanks to Andre Russell's impressive performance. Not only did he take three wickets, but he also had a strong partnership with the captain Rovman Powell, demonstrating his skill and dedication to the team's victory.
Phil Salt, who is 40 years old, helped England gain momentum from the beginning by partnering with Jos Buttler. They scored 77 runs together within the first six overs, despite losing the toss and having to bat first. However, the West Indies bounced back and were able to bowl out the English team for just 171 runs in 19.3 overs.
After a brief break due to weather, the West Indies team was having a tough time at 123-6, thanks to Rehan Ahmed (3-39) who took two wickets in a row. Adil Rashid (2-14) also made a great impact as he celebrated his 100th T20I appearance by becoming the first English male player to achieve 100 T20I wickets.
Powell and Russell scored an impressive 29 runs each to lead the team to victory. They had an unbeatable partnership of 49 runs for the seventh wicket in just 21 balls. This helped the West Indies win the match with 11 balls to spare, and they are now ahead 1-0 in the five-match series.
West Indies Win First Match Of Series
Salt hit six fours and one six during his time at bat, but he was ultimately caught at deep midwicket by Shimron Hetmyer, who made an impressive juggling catch. Hetmyer also caught skipper Buttler at cow corner. Unfortunately, England lost their momentum after a strong start that had them at 112-2 in the middle of their innings.
In his fast-moving approach, Will Jacks (17) struck two sixes in his brief innings. However, Alzarri Joseph (3-54) managed to dismiss him and recover from giving away 25 runs in his first over (which was the most expensive he's ever given up). Joseph was able to take out the remaining batters and end with a more respectably low score.
Romario Shepherd achieved two critical wickets during the cricket match. Firstly, he used a slower ball to end Ben Duckett's short and impressive innings of 14 runs in the 14th over, which he ramped to third. Then, in the 18th over, he took out Sam Curran, who scored 13 runs. However, the highlight of the game was Joseph's fantastic catch at long-off. The crowd at the Kensington Oval couldn't resist cheering in response.
Brook was dismissed by Pooran, while Liam Livingstone scored 27 runs before hitting an off-cutter from Russell onto his own stumps. It was Russell's first international game since the 2021 T20 World Cup and he continued to impress, taking another wicket just four balls later when Ahmed was caught by Powell at long-off.
At the end of the game, Joseph displayed excellent performance by getting Rashid (0) out in the last over. Next, Tymal Mills (0) got caught behind from the following ball, resulting in the English team being all out for 171.
Brandon King (22) and Kyle Mayers (35) collaborated with a reliable 32-run partnership in response. However, King hit a brief ball at Duckett, who completed a remarkable catch by leaping into the air. The West Indies scored a total of 78 runs within the first six overs.
Ahmed took a big wicket by catching and bowling Nicholas Pooran for 13, which helped England regain momentum in the game. Rashid followed it up with a significant wicket of Hetmyer (1), who was caught by Duckett at mid-wicket just before a 40-minute rain delay. This was a landmark wicket for Rashid.
"Sorry, you cannot access this content on Twitter at the moment due to your privacy settings. Please check and adjust your preferences accordingly to view the desired content."
Ahmed was able to catch Shai Hope (36) at wide long-on and utilized a slip given to him by Butter to eliminate Shepherd (0) with a golden duck. This left the home team requiring 49 more runs. However, costly overs by Livingstone and Mills allowed the West Indies to score 32 runs in just two overs and regain momentum.
Russell struck Rashid really hard and hit the ball over the boundary rope for a six. He hit another shot for four runs, bringing the number of runs needed to win down to only four. Then, he hit Sam Curran's delivery towards the backward point boundary to finish off the game and start the series with a victory.
Buttler Aims To Push Boundaries
The leader of the English cricket team, Jos Buttler:
The field conditions were predicted to become more challenging, which was evident in the game. I believed that the West Indies team performed well by making adjustments to their style of play by slowing down the ball. However, considering our starting position, our team aimed to attain a total score of 200.
We aspire to keep breaking limits and strive to remain optimistic as much as possible. Nonetheless, the challenge lies in discovering means to sustain that scoring methodology.
"At present, it has become increasingly challenging to reduce the number of deliveries without any runs and target specific regions. Additionally, we need to score an additional 20-25 runs in a manner that may not be considered trendy. This is an area where we need to ponder and perform efficiently."
The T20 international series comprising of five matches will now proceed to Grenada for two consecutive games on Thursday and Saturday, commencing at 5:30 pm GMT. Subsequently, the teams will relocate to Trinidad and Tobago for the last two matches on December 19 and December 21 at 10 pm. You can catch the series live by streaming Sky Sports with NOW.
