ENG v WI, One-off T20I Review: Windies thump the English in an emphatic way

Yet again the Windies show their dominance in the shortest format of the game, beating England fair and square at Chester-le-street on Saturday. With the openers clicking and Sunil Narine showing his class with the ball, the hosts found it really difficult to stay on level terms with the Caribbean lads and the latter managed to win the game by 21 runs.

Winning the toss opting to bowl first, an absolute carnage from the openers Chris Gayle (40 off 21 balls) and Evin Lewis (51 off 28 balls) put the English bowlers to the sword. Gayle was at his vintage best whilst Evin Lewis was tormenting the fast bowlers just the way he has been doing in recent times. The Powerplay phase was a nightmare for England as the visitors amassed a staggering 77 runs.

But Gayle fell soon thanks to some miscommunication between the openers and wickets kept falling at regular intervals. The run-rate which was clicking 13 at one stage came down to 8.5 and the middle order failed to put up anything brilliant. Samuels, Chadwick Walton, and Kieran Pollard fell in quick succession as they found themselves at 127/4 in 15 overs.

Thanks to some exploits from the bat of Rovman Powell (28 off 19 balls) and Ashley Nurse, Windies finished at 176/9 in their 20 overs. Whilst the new ball bowlers were taken for runs, Adil Rashid and Liam Plunkett picked up 3 wickets each conceding at less than 7 an over. The game was hanging in balance and a good start in the second innings for either teams would’ve tilted the game in their favor.

Hales’ effort goes in vain, Windies right on the money

Jason Roy was dismissed off the first ball of the innings as Jerome Taylor provided a dream start for the West Indies. Yet, Alex Hales’ (43 off 17 balls) bat did the talking during the whole course of the Powerplay as England kept amassing runs at a brisk pace. Joe Root was struggling at the other end, but Hales ensured his team got to 50 before 5 overs.

Hales was dismissed right after the Powerplay and the misery for the hosts intensified. Joe Root lost his composure in the very next over and Narine joined the party later, to send the dangerous Skipper Eoin Morgan back in the gallery. Jos Buttler(30) and Jonny Bairstow(27) then stitched a crucial partnership and though it was not going according to the required rate, they were setting up for a decent finish.

Carlos Barathwaite and Kesrick Williams kept picking wickets at regular intervals after this partnership was put to bed by the latter. Sunil Narine gave absolutely nothing away and to cover up his brilliant overs, English batters tried to take on Brathwaite and Williams and ended up picking he bulk of the wickets.

Once Jos Buttler was dismissed, Adil Rashid followed his in the very same over. Wickets then fell like a pack of cards in the coming few overs and the required run-rate crept up to a level which was completely out of reach. After Brathwaite cleaned up Plunkett’s stumps in the final over the game, England was bowled out for 155 in 19.3 overs and it was indeed a comprehensive performance from Carlos Brathwaite’s men.

Brathwaite and Williams picked up 3 wickets each, but the star of the show was Sunil Narine, who finished with figures of 2/15 in 4 overs. He finished as the player of the match and this will give West Indies a much needed boost before the ODI series commences.

Brief Scores

West Indies: 176/9 in 20 overs (Evin lewis 51, Chris Gayle 40; Liam Plunkett 3/27, Adil Rashid 3/25)

England: 155 all out in 19.3 overs (Alex Hales 43; Carlos Brathwaite 3/20, Sunil Narine 2/15, Kesrick Williams 3/35)

Player of the match: Sunil Narine