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Russell sizzles on comeback to give West Indies early lead
West Indies allrounder Andre Russell sizzled in his comeback game for West Indies to give the hosts a 1-0 series lead in the T20I series against England. Russell starred with both ball and bat as West Indies chased down the target set by England easily in the end with 11 balls to spare in Barbados.
After being asked to bat first, England got off to a terrific start by plundering 77 runs in the powerplay. Phil Salt got going with three fours in the very first over. Jos Buttler then picked a boundary each off the next two overs before paddling one fine for a six off Russell in the penultimate over of the powerplay. But it was the final over that hurt West Indies big time. Alzarri Joseph made a nightmarish start as he first conceded a four and a six to Salt before Buttler punished a free-hit for a boundary. And if that wasn’t enough, a slower ball down leg wasn’t collected by Nicholas Pooran as West Indies conceded five wides to eventually make it a 26-run over.
The first ball after the powerplay fetched a wicket as the dangerous Salt departed for a 20-ball 40, giving Russell his first wicket. Joseph continued to leak runs by conceding 17 in his second but that over also saw him get rid of Will Jacks, who had just hammered successive sixes. At the halfway mark, England 112 on the board and were well on their way to going past 200.
The second half of the innings was completely in contrast to the first one. Buttler had slowed down and mistimed a pull to get caught for 39 and Harry Brook failed to fire after getting outfoxed by a slower ball from Jason Holder. And if that wasn’t enough, England also lost Ben Duckett at a crucial juncture, handing over the finishing duties to Sam Curran and Liam Livingstone. The odd boundary did arrive and Livingstone threatened to give England a late push towards 200 after smashing Holder for back-to-back sixes but in a stunning collapse, England went from 165/5 to 171 all out. Russell removed the dangerous Livingstone in his final over and added the wicket of Rehan Ahmed before Joseph made amends with two more wickets to give West Indies complete momentum heading into the innings break.
If England made 13 in the first over to kickstart proceedings, West Indies went one step ahead as Brandon King took on Curran for two sixes and a four which was then followed by a massive six from Kyle Mayers off Will Jacks. While King’s rampage came to a halt after a stunning catch from Duckett, the hosts still made 59 in the first six overs, Mayers and Shai Hope then combined to smash Rehan for three sixes immediately after the PP to take control of the chase.
The chase followed a similar pattern to that of the first innings after the rollicking start. Mayers mistimed one against Adil Rashid to depart for 35 and Rehan made a strong comeback with the wicket of Pooran, Rashid was going through an excellent spell and accounted for the big wicket of Shimron Hetmyer as well which was also incidentally his 100th wicket in this format in his 100th game. Thankfully for the hosts, the rain arrived in the following over causing a break in England’s momentum.
West Indies were six runs ahead via DLS at that stage but play did resume around 40 minutes after the players left the field. Rehan then caused a huge dent post-resumption with a double wicket over that reduced WI to 123/6 but the batting side were still in with a chance with Russell walking out at No.8. Having already impressed with the ball in his first game in two years for WI, Russell saw Rovman Powell ease the pressure with successive sixes before unleashing himself. England just couldn’t stop the flow of boundaries as Russell and Powel caused mayhem before the former finished it off in the penultimate over.
Brief scores:
England171 in 19.3 overs (Philip Salt 40, Jos Buttler 39, Liam Livingstone 27; Akeel Hossain 1-32, Jason Holder 1-43, Andre Russell 3/19, Alzarri Joseph 3-54, Romairo Sheppard 2-22) lost to West Indies172/6 in 18.1 overs (Brandon King 22, Shai Hope 36, Kyle Mayers 35, Rovman Powell 31*, Andre Russel 29* ; Chris Woakes 1-15, Rehan Ahmed 3/39, Adil Rashid 2-25) by 4 wickets
The first truly heavyweight clash of this expanded T20 World Cup format comes freighted with both history and subplots. A rematch of the 2010 World T20 final at Kensington Oval, the match pits Jos Buttler’s defending champions – who are aiming to become the first team to retain the trophy – against the Australian winning machine, victors at the 2021 edition and current world title-holders in Test and ODI cricket. And that’s before you throw in the Ashes for afters.
Already there is added pressure on England, after the rain in Bridgetown led to a share of the points in their opener against Scotland (and that having conceded 90 runs from 10 overs without taking a wicket in a tepid bowling display). Lose to their oldest rivals and it will leave their Super 8 prospects open to being waylaid by the perils of net run-rate calculations, or worse.
The Scotland match was the third abandonment in five suffered by England, after a rain-affected home series against Pakistan, which has clearly hampered their readiness for this campaign after almost six months without playing T20 together. It does not take much for a side to click in this format – and England looked in decent shape when they did get on the field against Pakistan – but Buttler will be anxious for things to go their way on Saturday, if only to avoid further questions referencing the team’s disastrous ODI World Cup defence last year.
Australia, under the laidback leadership of Mitchell Marsh would love nothing more than to add to the English sense of jeopardy – having helped bundle them out of the tournament in India on the way to taking the crown. Their head to head record is less impressive in T20 however, with England having won six of the last seven completed encounters, as well as that 2010 final.
Despite a wobble with the bat, Australia avoided mishap against Oman earlier in the week, the experience of David Warner and Marcus Stoinis shining through in difficult batting conditions. Surfaces in the Caribbean – not to mention those games staged in the USA – have already had teams scratching their heads; rather than the “slug-fest” England had prepared for, following a high-scoring tour of the Caribbean in December, it looks as if boxing smart may be the way to go.
Speaking of Warner, this could be the last time he faces up against England in national colours – and another match-winning contribution would likely reduce the chances of them meeting again in the knockouts. On the other side of the card is Jofra Archer, fresh from an emotional maiden outing at Kensington Oval and ready to take on Australia for the first time in any format since 2020. Can Mark Wood fire up England’s campaign, as he did during last summer’s Ashes? Will Pat Cummins be back to harass the old enemy once again? Seconds out, it’s almost time to rumble.
Cummins is set to return after being rested for the Oman game, which saw Mitchell Starc leave the field with cramp. Starc is understood to be fine and could keep his place – which would likely see Nathan Ellis miss out. Marsh is still not fit to bowl, with Australia likely to continue with the allrounder combination of Stoinis and Maxwell to give them cover.
Australia (probable XI): David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis/Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
The one change England may consider is Reece Topley coming in for Wood, with the expectation that there will be some rotation among the seamers through the course of the tournament.
England (probable XI): Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (capt & wk), Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley/Mark Wood
[Cricinfo]
Once is coincidence, twice is a clue, and three times is proof.
To paraphrase Agatha Christie, that is the narrative around South Africa’s meeting with Netherlands at this T20 World Cup.
The Dutch beat South Africa at the 2022 tournament and ended their semi-final hopes in a match where South Africa appeared to be sleep walking, and then beat them again at the 2023 ODI World Cup, where they exposed South Africa’s vulnerability in the chase. If they to do the treble, not only will Netherlands take the lead in Group D, but they will offer conclusive evidence of the threat they pose to Full Members, especially South Africa.
Of course, it will take some doing after South Africa’s opening performance against Sri Lanka, where they reduced their opposition to their lowest T20I total and chased it down in fairly straightforward fashion thanks to the most stable middle-order of their white-ball era. In Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, South Africa have bankers and big-hitters and, for this match, they also have the advantage of experience. They’ve already played at Eisenhower Park, and have first-hand knowledge that run-scoring doesn’t come easily;Klassen said they are prepared to use their “cricket brains” and play “smarter cricket”.
But the conditions could be good news for Netherlands, who are not naturally a line-up of big hitters and build their innings on a foundation of turning ones into twos. In other words, they tend to take a slightly more conservative approach to batting, which may work well here, but they’ll be wary of the uneven bounce of the surface and will have to come up with plans to counterattack especially against South Africa’s seamers. Their own bowlers were exemplary in Dallas and will look to build on that performance against a line-up that will likely be more proactive than Nepal’s, but who they have managed to keep quiet not once, but twice in the past. Third time’s the charm, they say.
Anrich Nortje’s stunning return to form against Sri Lanka means South Africa may not have to tinker with the bowling combination, and Gerald Coetzee and Tabraiz Shamsi may have to wait their turns to get a game. The batting line-up should be unchanged, with no space for Ryan Rickelton yet.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markam, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Ottneil Baartman, Anrich Nortje
Conditions in New York may tempt Netherlands to include an extra seamer and they have Kyle Klein in their squad. But it could come at the expense of a shortened batting line-up and they may not want to risk that.
Netherlands: Michael Levitt, Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (capt, wk), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma
[Cricinfo]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
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