T20 World Cup: England show they are title contenders with statement win over West Indies in Saint Lucia | Cricket news

England were so close to exiting this T20 World Cup.

When Australia needed 89 from seven overs against Scotland in St Lucia on Sunday – in a match England needed their Ashes rivals to win or they would be eliminated – things looked bleak.

But any fanciful notion that Australia might be plotting to eliminate England was put to bed as a series of boundaries and a crucial missed catch from Scotland’s Chris Sole saw the 2021 champions cruise to victory ensuring the champions would join them in the Super 8s from 2022.

Now you sense there is a real chance that England and Australia could meet in the knockout stages as a somewhat soggy and at times sloppy start to their trophy defense sees Jos Buttler’s side look like title contenders again.

The clinical win over the West Indies proved that.

England held West Indies to 180-4, mainly thanks to Adil Rashid and Jofra Archer conceding just six runs in the 16th and 17th overs, while Phil Salt went on to score 30 runs in the 16th over of the chase, conceding each of the deliveries from Romario Shepherd hit. for four or six.

Salt’s attack, plus a Jonny Bairstow blitz of 48 not out from 26 balls, took England home with more than two overs to spare, boosting both their net run-rate and the belief that they could become the first side to win this competition twice would win in a row.

Nothing can be taken for granted in T20, but with Super 8 matches against a South African side that has crossed the line in almost all matches so far, despite winning five from five, and the United States still to come , England will be confident of qualifying for the semi-finals.

Then Australia – along with India, the favorites to progress from the other Super 8 pool – might wish they had dumped them out…

A story about the 16th overs

West Indies’ 16th overs and England’s respective innings could not have been more contrasting. They were undoubtedly where the game was won and lost.

West Indies scored just four runs and lost set batter Nicholas Pooran – a man who could have done all kinds of damage in the closing stages – as Archer regularly beat the left-hander’s flashing blade with full and wide deliveries outside off-stump and then clipped the bat from the last ball as Pooran advanced to Buttler.

The excellence of Archer and Rashid – the latter scoring just two runs in the 17th over – meant the hosts were restricted to just 43 runs in the final five overs of their innings, and England subsequently had no more than the final 2.5 overs from them needed as they cruise to victory in Gros Islet.

Once again the 16th over proved vital as Salt (87 none off 47 balls) trotted, lofted, ramped and pulled six boundaries – three fours and three sixes – to reduce the requirement from a manageable, but not easy, 40 from 30 balls to a routine 24 out of 10. Game over.

Salt – who now averages 68.28 against West Indies in T20 internationals after smoking consecutive hundreds against them in a pre-Christmas series in the Caribbean – said afterwards: ‘That was my time to pull the trigger to fetch.

“In the back of my mind I had decided, but I didn’t tell Jonny (Bairstow) because I didn’t want him to say no. (I thought I could take) good, calculated risks with one of the Seamers. First sniff I got, I had to take that opportunity.”

The opener added: “To come here and play like this against a very strong side, surfing the waves in their own conditions, with a home crowd, is a great feeling.

“It was a very stop-start tournament for us. We had a hiccup against Australia, a rain shower against Scotland, a really chaotic start. But in tournaments you need confidence and momentum at the right time. To win against the hosts give us a first push in that direction.”

Bairstow shines again after being questioned

Bairstow reinvigorated the England innings after it had stalled somewhat following the end of an opening stand of 67 between Salt and Buttler.

West Indies would have felt themselves back in the match when the demand for England was 70 off the last 42 balls, but Bairstow started Alzarri Joseph’s 14th over with a six over midwicket and a slant over wicketkeeper Pooran for four.

His three boundaries in a row from Akeal Hosein in the next over put England firmly back on track, before he watched from the other end as Salt Shepherd smoked all over the park.

Bairstow’s final act was to pull Joseph to midwicket for the match-clinching single, taking his side home with 15 balls to spare and taking his stand with Salt to an unbroken 97 off 44 balls.

Bairstow’s place in the order, even the

But he kept his place – Will Jacks the man to make way for Sam Curran – and has since repaid that faith with a thumping 31 off 18 balls against Namibia and now his most important cameo against the West Indies.

That reaction should come as no surprise, considering Bairstow has made a career of shooting while feeling like he’s being interrogated. Not that there had been any doubt from the dressing room, with Buttler saying of his teammate: “He’s a class player, and he has been for a long time. You keep supporting class players.”

“He hasn’t had many chances but today was a really impressive innings – the innings of a mature, senior player with a lot of power. He scored in a great way when the game was on the line.”

Rashid ‘England’s most important player’

Salt and Bairstow will grab the headlines, while Archer will rightly get support for his economical and wicket-taking 16th place finish.

But Buttler was quick to emphasize that leg-spinner Rashid remains England’s most important man: ‘We keep saying it, but he is our most important player. He has been that way for a long time. He has so much variety, so much threat. takes wickets, but also limits runs.”

Rashid picked up no wickets against the West Indies – Andre Russell his only victim in that two-run 17th over – but his economy rate was 5.25, he bowled 10 dot balls from 24 and went for just one boundary.

As so often in the past, England were grateful for his wizardry, and with Rashid one of the in-form players, this once tenuous title defense has begun again. Back to work.

Watch every match of the T20 World Cup, including the final in Barbados on Saturday, June 29, live on Sky Sports.

What’s next?

England stay in St Lucia to play South Africa on Friday (3.30pm UK & Ireland). West Indies travel to Barbados to take on the USA on Saturday (1.30am).