The Three Lions bowled out the Windies for just 55 and chased it down with 70 balls to spare in their opening fixture of the Super 12s at Dubai on Saturday.
The main event of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 got underway on Saturday with Australia defeating South Africa narrowly in a Group 1 fixture. Later in the evening, one of the tournament favourites England began their campaign with a massive victory over the defending champions West Indies at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
England’s bowling and fielding was spot on as they managed to bundle out the opposition’s dangerous batting unit on 55. In response, they stumbled a bit but got over the line with six wickets and 70 balls to spare.
As it happened, England won the important toss and Eoin Morgan chose to field first. For the West Indies, things went catastrophic from the second over itself. Evin Lewis (6) was caught excellently by Moeen Ali running back to land the first blow.
Ali picked Lendl Simmons (3) and Shimron Hetmyer (9) in his next two overs followed by Tymal Mills bouncing out Chris Gayle on 13. Dwayne Bravo (5) timed a Jordan delivery well but straight to the backward point.
The defending champions were half the side down for just 37. Morgan kept attacking with Mills, who dismissed Nicholas Pooran (1) in the ninth over. The West Indies were down to their last batting pair of Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell.
Adil Rashid was brought into the attack and immediately castled Russell with a slider on a two-ball duck. Their last hope Pollard holed out in the 13th over as Rashid closed out the innings with two more wickets.
For England, Rashid registered an impressive 4 for 2 in 2.2 overs. Ali and Mills returned identical figures of 2 for 17 while Jordan and Woakes picked a wicket each.
Chasing 56, Jos Buttler and Jason Roy added 21 runs in three overs before Roy (11) was caught at midwicket. England lost three wickets in a silly manner, with Jonny Bairstow (9 and Liam Livingstone (1) caught bowled by Akeal Hosein while Moeen (3) ran himself out. Buttler (24* off 22) and Morgan (7*) saw the team through in the ninth over.
Ali was named the ‘player of the match’ for his early match-defining spell. England received a huge net run-rate boost from this victory of +3.970, which could be vital in the end.
Brief Scores
West Indies – 55 in 14.2 overs (Gayle 13; Rashid 4/2, Ali 2/17, Mills 2/17)
England – 56/4 in 8.2 overs (Buttler 24*, Roy 11; Hosein 2/24, Rampaul 1/14) won by six wickets.
