England 161 for 3 (Buttler 83) beat West Indies 158 for 8 (Powell 43, Livingstone 2-16) by seven wickets
Though England then misplaced their centurion from Saturday’s profitable chase of 183, Phil Salt, to the primary ball of the reply, Buttler and Jacks dispelled West Indies’ hopes of creating a recreation of it with a domineering stand of 129 from 72 balls. Each fell in the identical Shepherd over however there was no reprieve forthcoming for West Indies.
Solely 3 times had a rating of 150 or much less been defended in T20Is at Kensington Oval – and none since 2010. West Indies clearly wanted to make early inroads with the brand new ball, they usually could not have gone any higher in that regard. Akeal Hosein gave his first ball some air, discovered just a little flip, and Salt’s aggressive thump went straight at hand within the covers. Buttler was then late in jabbing down on Hosein’s fourth supply, the ball deflecting off the toe of the bat earlier than bouncing over the stumps. Would possibly the pitch nonetheless be tough to grasp?
Buttler serves up a classicThe quick reply was: no. Jacks did the early working, selecting off boundaries towards Matthew Forde and Hosein, with Buttler scoring simply three runs off his first 10 balls. Again-to-back fours off Forde adopted, earlier than Jacks deposited Hosein over long-off. England have been starting to really feel just a little extra comfy as Shepherd got here on to bowl the ultimate over of the powerplay – they usually have been metaphorically in a deckchair sipping from a chilly bottle of Banks by the top of it.
Jacks once more took the lead, clubbing 4 excessive over mid-off, earlier than ceding the stage to Buttler. His first of three consecutive boundaries was one thing of an ungainly hack that spun away to the rope at deep backward level, however that was adopted up by emphatically drilling Shepherd’s slower ball over the sightscreen, then strolling throughout to the change of size and flipping 4 extra over the pinnacle of quick tremendous leg, as England reached the top of the powerplay on 56 for 1.
One other bludgeon down the bottom off Gudakesh Motie meant a alternative ball needed to be despatched for, and Buttler went to a 32-ball half-century by smashing Roston Chase into the group within the tenth over of the chase. Terrance Hinds, making his debut for West Indies, was collared for 15 runs as England introduced up their 100 within the subsequent, earlier than Buttler went 6-6-4 towards Chase. He fell within the subsequent over, three balls after Jacks – and one ball after being dropped within the covers. However the end line was already in sight for England, Livingstone creaming 4 boundaries in 11 balls and sealing the consequence with a six.
Mahmood within the temper againThere was early proof of some juice within the pitch, with Bridgetown having been lashed by rain through the morning, as Evin Lewis edged Jofra Archer fortuitously extensive of slip whereas making an attempt to depart within the first over. Brandon King was in no temper for sighters, although, and tried to thrash his second ball from Mahmood excessive: the ball stood up simply sufficient off the floor to ship a spiralling forefront to mid-off.
Archer had Lewis prodding and poking within the channel, earlier than producing a brute of a lifter to flick the glove by to Salt. And though Mahmood struggled at instances to regulate the quantity of motion on supply, conceding 10 wides in his opening three-over burst, he picked up his fifth powerplay wicket of the collection when beating Chase on the within to win an lbw resolution that was backed up on DRS as umpire’s name. West Indies have been 35 for 3 contained in the fourth over – marginally higher off than their begin to the primary T20I, however not by a lot.
Powell powers the revivalWest Indies wanted a partnership they usually bought one from Powell and Nicholas Pooran – nevertheless it was not fluent. Pooran quickly opted for seeing off the new-ball pair, given the motion on supply, whereas Powell was additionally circumspect, seeing off a maiden from Sam Curran within the eighth. The pair placed on 35 from 43, with only a boundary apiece, earlier than Pooran was lured from his floor by Livingstone, whose flighted offbreak left the West Indies No. 3 stranded.
Powell had crabbed his technique to 18 off 28 earlier than he discovered his vary, panning Livingstone over the midwicket rope for the primary six. He misplaced one other accomplice in Sherfane Rutherford, England reviewing efficiently for lbw, after which one way or the other managed to muscle Rashid on to the rope at further cowl, regardless of aiming down the bottom. One other boundary on the finish of the over introduced up West Indies’ 100; however simply as Powell appeared set to unleash by the dying overs, he was undone by Mousley’s 116kph/72mph yorker, which dipped underneath the bat to hit center stump and provides the 21-year-old his maiden worldwide wicket.
Windies tail wagsThe hosts solely managed three boundaries between the top of the powerplay and the beginning of the fifteenth over, however after Powell’s dismissal, the decrease order heaved away to good impact. Motie made good use of the additional tempo Mousley placed on the ball to thrash two fours in three balls, earlier than Shepherd took back-to-back boundaries off Archer and crunched Curran down the bottom. Forde additionally discovered the ropes 3 times in six balls, all them sweetly struck, whereas Hinds hit his second ball in worldwide cricket for 4 – Mousley’s last over costing 15, together with 5 wides down the leg aspect.
Alan Gardner is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo. @alanroderick
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