Twitter Reactions: Harakiri from West Indies batters plays into England's hands in Dubai
West Indies were bundled out for just 55 runs and England chased it down comfortably.
It was the clash between the finalists of the 2016 T20 World Cup. But only one team arrived with the correct mindset in Dubai. England were exceptional on the day and they literally thumped West Indies who played extremely poor cricket with the bat. The defending champions wouldn’t have even dreamt of such a horrible start to their campaign as they registered their second lowest total ever in T20Is. Their bowlers showed some fight but such a small total was never going to be a winning score.
After opting to bowl first, England opened the bowling with Moeen Ali in a bid to get the quota of the fifth bowler done. But the off-spinner did more than a good job for his side bowling his quota of four overs straight up. Moeen sent back Lendl Simmons in his second over and what transpired was simply some poor and possibly the worst cricket West Indies would’ve ever played in the shortest format.
Each batter was coming and playing a big shot which played into England’s hands. Shimron Hetmyer looked good for a couple of shots but over-aggression against Moeen cost him. At the other end, Chris Woakes nipped out Evin Lewis while the other pacers Tymal Mills and Chris Jordan chipped in with wickets to leave West Indies reeling at 42/6 in the ninth over.
This was not it. Adil Rashid came into the attack then and slid one past Andre Russell’s defence to castle and just rolled over Kieron Pollard and the rest of the tail to return with the magical figures 4/2 in 2.2 overs. West Indies were skittled for just 55 runs in the 15th over. While it was some top-class bowling from England but the Caribbean side clearly had something more interesting lined up in the dressing room than in the middle.
Only Chris Gayle reached double-figures, scoring 13, for West Indies as they were on a self-destruction mode on the day with the bat.
England lose four wickets in the small chase
Well, the target was not even going to bother England. The customary boundaries from Jos Buttler inside the powerplay came soon while Jason Roy also smacked one out of the park. However, the West Indies bowlers showed some spine picking Roy and Jonny Bairstow in quick succession. Ravi Rampaul and Akeal Hosein were the bowlers with some success.
The latter showed off his skills with the ball and followed it up with a brilliant flying catch to send back Liam Livingstone. Prior to that, Moeen Ali got run-out in a mix-up with Jos Buttler as England stumbled chasing a small total. However, that didn’t bother them much as they got over the line comfortably eventually with six wickets in hand in the 9th over.
Only if the West Indies batters had shown application with the bat and posted a fighting score at least, their bowlers would’ve made a match out of it.
Here’s how Twitter reacted:
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