WEST INDIES WIN BY 21 RUNS!
20th over: England 155 all out (Curran 1) A valiant effort from Liam Plunkett ends with Carlos Brathwaite taking out his leg stump. Three for 20 for Brathwaite, who has captained exceptionally well, combined with three for 35 from Keswick Williams and excellent catch sees them win this one-off T20i, in difficult conditions. This whole squad dropped in for this match and many were wondering if they’d show up given the cold and the wet. They’ve absolutely bossed matters and shown why they’re reigning World T20 champs.
19th over: England 151-9 (Plunkett 14, Curran 1) A bouncer nearly takes Tom Curran’s nose off. But he digs out a slower yorker to grab a single and then runs hard to ensure Plunkett has the strike for final over. England need 26 from the final six balls. Carlos Brathwaite to bowl the last over. Remember him?
WICKET! Jordan c Powell b Williams 6 (England 148-9)
For a second, I thought Chris Jordan got all of that. A wristy, MS Dhoni-esque flick to midwicket lands into the safe hands of Powell, who has been a involved and reliable presence out in the leg side this innings. Tom Curran is the last man in…
18th over: England 145-8 (Plunkett 12, Jordan 4) That’ll help. Plunkett crunches a slower ball from the returning Jerome Taylor down the ground for four. And when another is served up, Plunkett’s onto it again – this time finding space out at deep midwicket.
32 needed from 12…
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at 10.16pm BST
17th over: England 132-8 (Plunkett 1, Jordan 2) Singles and nothing more. That asking rate is now through the roof. England need 45 from the last three overs.
This. All this:
Christian Drury
(@cj_drury)Obviously good players play well even when it’s cold, and the whole premise is based on odd British assumptions
WICKET! Bairstow c sub b Brathwaite 27 (England 129-8)
Circling the drain now. Bairstow tries to go with the spin of the off-cutter, attempting to heave it over square leg. He ends up clothing it to the fielder monitoring the deep.
16th over: England 127-7 (Bairstow 25, Plunkett 0) Brilliant from Narine, as he finishes his spell beating the bat of the right-handed Plunkett. His figures: four overs, no maidens, two for 15. Gamechanging.
WICKET! Willey st Walton b Narine 1 (England 127-7)
A bit of turn away from Narine but not much. Enough to see Willey charge and completely miss. Out stumped by a couple of yards.
15th over: England 124-6 (Bairstow 23) Change in the order with Adil Rashid promoted ahead of David Willey. He can manouerve the field but you do wonder if some Humpty from Willey wouldn’t go amiss here. I guess we’ll find out. A wicket with the first and then with the last ball of that over from Williams.
53 needed from 30…
WICKET! Rashid c Walton b Williams 1 (England 124-6)
Cracking bumper from Keswick Williams. Rashid looks like he’s caught between trying to ramp it and sway out of the way. In the end, he does neither. Gloved through to the keeper.
WICKET! Buttler c Powell b Williams 30 (England 118-5)
BIG! Buttler slaps a short (slower) ball to Powell, who sets himself at midwicket and takes a smart catch.
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at 9.59pm BST
14th over: England 118-4 (Buttler 30, Bairstow 19) Bairstow tries to finesse Pollard through backward point but can’t quite create the angle required to send it to the boundary. Buttler top-edges down to fine leg as he tries to sweep a ball from outside off stump, but it falls well short of Sunil Narine, who started back on the sponge. Just as the focus from the commentary box turns to Bairstow needing to take the pressure off Buttler, the Yorkshireman launches Pollard over long off!
Answers on a postcard:
Test Match Special
(@bbctms)1,000 T20 international runs for @josbuttler!
He’s only the 4th English batsman to score that many.
Can you name the others?#bbccricket pic.twitter.com/i1fGcfiEa9
13th over: England 108-4 (Butler 28, Bairstow 10) Keswick Williams returns for his second over. It’s mainly cutters so Buttler’s attempted scoop just dribbles through to the keeper. Most of the work between these two are being done with their feet. Buttler and Bairstow both have the capacity to turn the switch in, say, the next over. But I imagine there’s someone in particular they fancy. Perhaps Pollard?
Updated
at 9.48pm BST
12th over: England 101-4 (Buttler 24, Bairstow 9) Change of tact now as Pollard comes into the attack with his tricksy mediums. Varies his lengths more than his pace in the shortest format, so it’ll be interesting to see how Buttler will play him, with fine leg and third man up. A junk delivery – back of a length, angling down the leg side – is helped along to fine leg for four.
76 needed from 48
11th over: England 83-4 (Buttler 12, Bairstow 4) Before the over begins, the umpires decide to change the ball. So that’s a few more minutes wasted. It’s been an hour and we’ve only bowled 10 overs! When we do get going, Bairstow picks up his first boundary thanks to a misfield at midwicket by Kieron Pollard.
Worrisome numbers if you’re Eoin Morgan. Probably won’t be happy about that pen pic either…
Phil Makepeace
(@AlteredCourse)Anyway, he’s made one fifty in all formats since making 87 at Edgbaston vs Australia on June 10. Twenty-one innings.
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at 9.35pm BST
9th over: England 77-4 (Buttler 8, Bairstow 2) Both England wicketkeepers at the crease. Both guardians of England’s success in this chase. Nurse is a bit too full and Jos drives through the covers, beating the fielder in the ring and the boundary rider on the fence. A clean 100 needed from 66 balls now…
8th over: England 69-4 (Buttler 1, Bairstow 1) Really smart from West Indies, this. The pitch is starting to play a bit tacky and so Narine and Nurse are just trying to get it stopping but bowling into the surface. Morgan’s wicket the just desserts for building pressure effectively.
WICKET! Morgan c Lewis b Narine 2 (England 68-4)
Not quite the wheels falling off for England, but there’s certainly a few bolts loose and scattered on the road. Morgan goes for a reverse sweep, connects well enough but finds the hands of Evin Lewis, up in the ring at fine leg.
John Etheridge
(@JohnSunCricket)Morgan now has 12 runs in his last seven T20 innings
7th over: England 68-3 (Morgan 2, Buttler 1) Bonus wicket, that. And imagine it’ll be spin at both ends with Ashley Nurse’ off-spinners and, presumably, Narine continuining. On Cow Corner, David Keech emails in with some Wikiknowledge:
“The location of cow corner depends on a batsman’s handedness, but it is always a part of the field in the deep on the batsman’s leg side, typically stretching from forward of deep midwicket to backward of long on. The diagram shows the location of cow corner for a right-handed batsman.The cow corner is named as such because it is usually a quiet region of the field, such that cows grazing in the region would be unbothered even during a match.
This is because of the relative difficulty of hitting a shot into the cow corner region; the only conventional cricketing shot that goes toward that region of the field is the on drive, and when played along the ground, that shot usually does not result in the ball approaching the boundary. Unconventional shots, however, do sometimes approach the cow corner, particularly hoicks, agricultural shots, mistimed pull shots, and helicopter shots.”
WICKET! Root c Brathwaite b Nurse 17 (England 66-3)
Now then… two new batsmen at the crease as Joe Root hits an innocuous off-spinner to short-cover. Brathwaite, diving to his left, makes no error. Here’s Jos…
6th over: England 64-2 (Root 16, Morgan 0) The final over of the Power Play, bowled by an increasingly exasperated Brathwaite, starts with four leg byes. A slower ball to follow is too wide and allows Joe Root to do what he does best. The two cover fielders had no chance. Fired up, Brathwaite takes out his frustration on Hales and sends the opener packing. Like his previous boundaries, Hales was dancing all over the place. A bit of movement into him found him wanting.
WICKET! Hales b Brathwaite 43 (England 64-2)
Right through him! Brathwaite, not a happy chappy right now, gets through Hales and takes out his off stump. West Indies back in the game…
5th over: England 55-1 (Hales 43, Root 11) Sunil Narine – box of tricks – takes this over. Holds a few back, forces a few through, drops the last ball short so Hales can cut through the offside (he’s 43 from 18, now). We’ve officially got a game, now.
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at 9.09pm BST
4th over: England 50-1 (Hales 39, Root 10) Carlos Brathwaite bringing himself on. Took three-fer in the World T20 Final, by the way. Often forgotten. Understandably. Root heaves a two to the leg side and then plinks one where a bat pad might have been. The umpires take the time to have a chat. Not entirely sure why, but it looks like they, along with the West Indies players, are concerned about how slippery the outfield is. Brathwaite, though, is happy to get on with it. Finishes the over with a short ball which Hales flicks over to the leg side for Hales’ eighth boundary. He’s currently 39 from 14. England’s fastest T20 fifty in his sights…
“Who’s got the fastest?” I hear you ask. Strap in…
3rd over: England 43-1 (Hales 35, Root 8) Quick, swinging delivery from Taylor – but swinging down the leg side – sees Root flick effortlessly over fine leg (up in the circle) for four. Similar faces Hales, though on his toes, and the wrist work to get that square through the leg side is impeccable. Four more. And another from Hales! This time he walks away to square leg and smears a similar line through cover! AND HE’S FINISHED THE OVER WITH A SIX! Ridiculous player. Short ball from Taylor is swivel-pulled over the leg side sponge and into the stands. Decent.
Innocent Bystander
(@InnoBystander)Yeah but can Hales do this on a warm Tuesday afternoon in Port of Spain…? #engvwi
2nd over: England 24-1 (Hales 21, Root 3) Slight delay in this over as wicketkeeper Chadwick Walton over-extends his left-knee when he has to change directions when chasing a ball down the leg side. Luckily, he’s OK to continue. Now, where were we…
Bit of Tim Bresnan about Keswick. Bustles in, built like a “you’re not coming in here with trainers” type. Even jumps wide to get that angle into the right-hander. A neat trick but not one Hales is succumbing to. Second ball, he blazes him over the fielder at midwicket for four. Another back of a length delivery – only 82mph – is smeared over cover for another four, as Hales gives himself room. After the restart, he threads one through extra cover and then top-spin forehands one down the ground. Silly form, Hales is in.
1st over: England 8-1 (Hales 5, Root 3) Roy demise, a tidy start as Root finds three around the corner at square leg before Hales times the pants off one, back past the bowler, for four more. Good pace from Jerome Taylor. Keswick Williams, right arm fast medium, from the other end…
England Cricket
(@englandcricket)WICKET! Roy out first ball of the innings
0/1 #ENGvWI
WICKET! Roy c Lewis b Taylor 0 (England 0-1)
I hope you didn’t plough the mortgage onto my shout, just then. Roy gone first ball of the innings! Checks a shot to Evin Lewis at backward point.
Pitch still looks good, regardless of the dramatic dip in scoring – that came about through the loss of personnel rather than a change in the surface – so England are favourites. Especially with the wetness around. A few drinks and the new white ball will be like a bar of soap. Should effectively nullify the usually unflappable threat of Sunil Narine.
Kate Cross
(@katecross16)Quote my mother: “why do they call it cow corner? Does every ground have one” 😂😂
Is the answer to this the one I believe – dates back to a time pre-leg-side hoiks, when the cows in the field were allowed to graze in peace as the off side was peppered instead – or is there more to it?
Updated
at 8.37pm BST
ENGLAND REQUIRE 177 TO WIN
20th over: West Indies 176-9 (Nurse 13, Williams 2) Kesrick Williams accompanies Nurse once Taylor goes. Crucially, he gets Nurse the strike who then uses all his might to crank one down the ground for six! Two brisk yorkers ensure an un-Kolkata finish of two singles.
Considering Lewis and Gayle had England chasing their tail at 77-0 in the seventh over and then 106-1 in the 11th, it has been a fantastic fightback from Eoin Morgan and his bowlers. Plunkett the pick of them, Rashid a trusty supporting hand, both of them finishing with three wickets.
WICKET! Taylor LBW Jordan 1 (West Indies 167-9)
Haha oh amazing! Usually batsmen at least try and pretend the ball hasn’t hit their leg when struck in front. Taylor, though, is rubbing his knee before the umpire’s put his finger up. Right in front of off stump.
19th over: West Indies 167-8 (Nurse 6, Taylor 1) Curran’s slower ball is bunted back to him. He finishes with one for 46. Chris Jordan to bowl the final over…
Still got the full 40-overs on the cards, which is nice. Tom Curran has a ball to bowl before we go into the final over of the West Indies innings…
RAIN STOPS PLAY!
19.5 overs: West Indies 167-9 (Nurse 6, Taylor 1) Oooh… poor Curran. Having had his first ball dropped by a diving Plunkett – Nurse getting away with a strike down the ground – he’s smeared for his fourth six by Powell, over midwicket. Again! It was a low full toss that deserved to go the distance, to be fair. There’s a big, emasculating delay as the ball has been tonked out of the ground but Curran refocuses and gets his man. A couple of balls later and the rain is just too great to continue playing. We’re off with seven balls in the innings to go. Unless the rain goes on for about 20-minutes, we won’t lose any overs.
Updated
at 8.18pm BST
WICKET! Powell c Jordan b Curran 28 (West Indies 165-8)
Just as the rain starts to pick up, Curran’s able to get a good enough grip to bowl a slower ball. Powell heaves it high into the dark clouds and Chris Jordan, running in from midwicket, takes the catch.
18th over: West Indies 158-7 (Powell 22, Nurse 4) Jordan’s wayward start with a couple of wides that gives Powell a sighter. Granted, that sentence is covered in hindsight because, third legitimate ball, Powell sets himself and bludgeons a slower ball over midwicket for a huuuuuuuuuuuge six! Got to be the biggest of the innings.