West Indies produced an all-round show to stun England by 30-runs in their T20 World Cup match at the Wankhede in Mumbai on Wednesday night.
The West Indies were 55 for 3 at the end of the Powerplay but dug deep to reach 196 thanks to Sherfane Rutherford’s career-best unbeaten 76. And their bowlers held firm, even after an early onslaught from Phil Salt to inflict a bruising defeat on England.
England had a bright start to their chase as Phil Salt got off to a blazing start and took 24 runs off Jason Holder’s second over. But Romario Shepherd, who had taken a hat-trick in the previous game, made an instant impact by dismissing Salt as Rutherford took a regulation catch.
Jacob Bethell joined Jos Buttler and continued his fine form with a flurry of boundaries. England registered the second-highest powerplay score of his edition, 67 runs at the loss of one wicket. However, Roston Chase and Gudakesh Motie provided the dream start in the middle overs by dismissing Jos Buttler and Tom Banton respectively in consecutive overs.
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Skipper Harry Brook came into the middle to support Bethell, but Motie’s brilliant spin erased any hopes of the pair striking another big partnership. Motie bowled out with the figures of 3/33. Spin counterpart Chase joined along to pick his second by trapping Will Jacks plumb to leave England reeling at 134/6.
All-rounder Sam Curran waged a lone battle with an unbeaten 43 as England lost their way and the game. They were bowled out for 166 with an over to spare.
“We probably through it was chaseable for sure. It probably didn’t dew up as much as we were expecting, it probably didn’t skid onto the bat as much as we were expecting. Thank god we won against Nepal the other night otherwise we’d be in a tricky situation,” Brook said after the game.
Earlier, England captain Brook won the toss and elected to field first in their Group C clash. After openers Shai Hope and Brandon King were back inside the first two overs, the West Indies batting line-up shared the load to take the team to 196/6 in 20 overs.
Shimron Hetmyer (23) and Roston Chase (34) gave the team some momentum with a 47-run stand in 28 balls, taking them to 55/3 in powerplay. Though England kept taking wickets at regular intervals, West Indies fought back with some power hitting.
After playing himself in, Sherfane Rutherford let loose, slamming five sixes and two fours for a timely half-century. He struck seven sixes and two fours during an unbeaten 76 and knit important parterships with Rovman Powell (51 for the fifth wicket) and Jason Holder (61 for the sixth wicket).
Holder then helped West Indies shift gears, hitting three towering sixes off Sam Curran in the 17th over. His 33 off just 17 balls helped West Indies grab 54 runs in the last four overs.
While Jofra Archer and Curran helped England make early inroads, Adil Rashid was the pick of the bowlers, returning with figures of 2/1. in his four overs. Jamie Overton also claimed two wickets for 33 runs.
“For me, I’ve been putting in a lot of work coming into the World Cup. Once I’m in, I can always score in the end,” said Player of the Match Rutherford.
He also said he thought West Indies were 10 runs short before their bowlers, particularly Roston Chase and Gudakesh Motie, cut off England’s scoring options. Rutherford also confirmed his finger injury sustained in the chase should be good for the next fixture against Nepal on Sunday.
Brief scores: West Indies 196/6 (Shimron Hetmyer 23, Roston Chase 34, Shrefane Rutherford 76 no, Jason Holder 33; Jamie Overton 2/33, Adil Rashid 2/16) beat England 166 in 19 overs (Phil Salt 30, Jos Buttler 21, Jacob Bethell 33, Sam Curran 43 no; Roston Chase 2/29, Gudakesh Motie 3/33).
