Twitter Reactions: Jos Buttler and Chris Gayle light up Grenada in a high-scoring thriller

England saw off a blistering century from Chris Gayle to beat Windies by 29 runs in the thrilling fourth ODI to take an unassailable 2-1 lead in the five-match series. The architects of the win were Jos Buttler and spinner Adil Rashid with the former scoring a career-best 150 while the latter picked up a five-wicket haul.

Batting first, England were off to a sizzling start courtesy Jonny Bairstow and Alex Hales as the duo fired on all the cylinders right from the word go. The two put on exactly 100 for the first wicket before Bairstow, who had completed his fifty of just 31 deliveries, chopped on as he attempted to run Oshane Thomas down to third man. Hales, on the other hand, also capitalised on the rare opportunity in the playing eleven by smashing 82 off 73 balls.

With the platform set, the time was right for Buttler and skipper Eoin Morgan to launch their assault and they didn’t disappoint. After taking their time early on, the two started hitting the Windies bowlers all around the park, smashing an unbelievable 204 runs in just 20.2 overs for the fourth-wicket.

Buttler brought his century off just 60 balls while Morgan also followed suit soon. The stand ended when Morgan holed out for 103. Buttler, however, went on to smash 150 to guide England to an imposing total of 418 for 6.  Buttler’s knock was studded with 13 fours and 12 sixes.

Windies’ fighting reply

Windies, in reply, were not ready to throw in the towel yet. Their talismanic opener Gayle started slowly, taking just three runs off his first seven balls before hitting Chris Woakes for his first six of the innings. It was just the precursor of the things that were to follow as Gayle launched a stunning counterassault on the visitors. He and Darren Bravo struck a remarkable 176 runs off 17.5 overs to help Windies claw their way back into the game before Mark Wood returned to swing the match back in England’s favour by removing Bravo (61) and Hetmyer (6) in the same over.

Gayle soon reached his 25th ODI century from just 55 balls and went on to cross the 150-run mark. Ben Stokes then gave England a sigh of relief by castling the Jamaican for 162. Gayle hit 11 four and a staggering 14 sixes during his knock. Gayle’s departure, nonetheless, derailed Windies’ innings for a while before Ashley Nurse (43) and Carlos Brathwaite (50) turned the game on its head with an 88-run seventh-wicket stand to leave Windies needing 32 off the final three overs.

However, Rashid killed off the game by dismissing Nurse and Brathwaite off consecutive balls before Devendra Bishoo and Thomas were dismissed for ducks.

Here is how Twitter reacted to the game:

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