England vs West Indies Match Report

England kicked off their T20 World Cup campaign with a game against West Indies in the Super Tens stage of the competition.

Jason Roy and Alex Hales got England off to a solid if not spectacular start, before Roy was dismissed for 15 with 37 runs on the board. While Hales struggled to score quickly, Joe Root had no such problems and the golden boy of English cricket scored a well constructed 48 to put England in with a good chance of finishing their innings off with a flurry.

When Root was eventually dismissed by Andre Russell, captain Eoin Morgan was bought to the crease. He batted well with Jos Buttler, who made 30 off 20 balls to help England regain some momentum. When Buttler was caught in the deep, a useful cameo from Ben Stokes saw England continue to score at a good rate.

Moeen Ali hit a six off his first ball, but was run out off the final ball of the innings. Morgan finished the innings unbeaten on 27, with England reaching 182-6 in their allotted 20 overs.

David Willey got England’s defence off to a good start, taking the wicket of Johnson Charles in the first over of the West Indies’ reply. However, the Windies recovered and found themselves on 44-1 after the first five overs, thanks to a breathtaking start from Marlon Samuels.

With England struggling Adil Rashid was bought into the attack, and immediately picked up the wicket of Samuels. However, with Samuels gone, Chris Gayle picked up the pace and began an all out assault on the England bowlers. With the game getting away from England, Ali struck to reduce the West Indies to 103-3.

Although Reece Topley picked up England’s fourth wicket, Gayle continued to take England’s attack apart and hit Ali for three consecutive sixes. Following the onslaught, the West Indies needed just 32 runs from the final five overs.

Gayle brought up his ton off just 47 balls to put his side on the brink of victory. It was left to Andre Russell to hit the winning runs, as the West Indies secured a six wicket victory with eleven balls to spare. The defeat will come as a disappointment for England, and they face a daunting match against South Africa in their next game. If they are to progress to the knock-out stages of the competition, England will have to improve their performances and fast, as back-to-back defeats will make getting out of the group an extremely difficult task.