The host country, West Indies won by 4 wickets against the reigning Champions, England on Tuesday at the Kensington Oval in Barbados. Fans were ecstatic for this spectacular win as this match also saw the return of the all-rounder Andre Russell into international cricket after two years of absence
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Andrew Russell Makes a Comeback
Andre Russell, 35, is still a force to be reckoned with. He led the West Indies into a gob-smacking win against England. He who is excellent in both bat and ball inspired West Indies into the spectacular win and took three wickets for just 19 runs restricting the world champions to 171 runs. The contributing factor for this win is that England let a dominating partnership of 77 runs slip when it lost its first wicket which snowballed eventually into an all-out.
The outcome of England in International T20 versus West Indies
Captain Jos Buttler and Phil Salt’s powerful partnership took the score to 77-0 which later turned to 112-2 in the mid-innings which then faded out to all out at 171 during the second half. The decision of Skipper, Rovman Powell for giving up batting after winning the toss resulted in a sweet win.
Batting posed a challenge for the England Cricket Team as it had been raining but the unforeseeable rain wasn’t the only reason behind England’s defeat. The proof is in England’s batting, securing only 59 runs and losing 8 wickets in the last 10 Overs of their innings.
Aftermath of England’s play
Adil Rashid, England’s leg-spinner, made a personal record, this match marked his 100th T20 international wicket in his 100th match.
England captain Jos Buttler said It would always get hard, the way the pitch played. But from the position they were in, they were looking for a score of more than 200. The score however came to a standstill at 171 for England.
West Indies’s Winning Strike
With a target of 172 runs, it seemed like an easy win for West Indies but faced setbacks in the mid-innings which placed England’s momentum back into motion.
It was quickly overshadowed by the partnership of Russell along with Powell (31, not out). Together they displayed a stunning power play, securing the win with 11 runs and 4 wickets to spare. The winning runs, to everyone’s delight, came from Russell.
Other highlights from this match:
Shai Hope becomes the top scorer for West Indies with 36 from 30 balls.
Andre Russell, becomes the Player of the Match. On bagging the title he said, “Life is so funny. When I got selected, I kept dreaming, for two weeks now, that I would be man of the match.”
Takeaways from the ICC T20 West Indies Vs England
The winning teams now head toward Geneva for the second T20 match on Thursday. With the win West Indies secured on Tuesday, it makes West Indies 1-0 up in the 5 matches. With four games left in the series and six months until their T20 World Cup finals, there is still time for England to put things right.
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