It was quite a night at Kensington Oval for players reared in Barbados. Unfortunately for West Indies, the only two men on the pitch who learnt their cricket in Barbados were instead representing England. Together, Phil Salt and Jacob Bethell – one player who spent six years here, the other whose family have been on the island for generations – combined for an 107-run stand to give England an eight-wicket victory.
In pursuit of 183, after a stunning West Indies recovery, England’s best chance of victory lay in getting above the required rate. Salt ensured that England not just did so quickly, but stayed there too.
Shamar Joseph, the destroyer of Australia at the Gabba earlier this year, was brought on in the fourth over. He was met by Salt at his most belligerent.
Once he got on strike, Salt immediately swatted a length ball over square leg for six. It set up a brutal assault: Joseph’s next two deliveries, the first with extra pace and the second a slower ball, were both cut through third man. When Joseph found his length, Salt thrashed a straight drive that narrowly missed the stumps, perhaps the cleanest shot hit all day. In his despair, Joseph then bowled too wide and was launched over the covers. Twenty-two runs had come in the five-ball streak, setting England up to reach 73-1 after the Powerplay. Thereafter, England never threatened to relinquish their hold over the game.
In the T20 series in the Caribbean last year, Salt hit two centuries in the space of three days, his first two professional hundreds in the format. Salt’s third, reached in only 53 balls, added to his magnificent record against West Indies in T20, and confirmed his growing standing in the format. He is increasingly adept not just leading an assault in the Powerplay but in controlling the innings thereafter. Long considered the successor to Jason Roy, Salt is now a T20 batsman of even greater range. Salt’s jubilant reaction to reaction his century, taking off his helmet and running halfway towards the changing room, matched the heady mood as England waltzed to victory.
“It means everything,” said Salt, who lived in Barbados from the age of nine to 15. “I think you could probably see the celebration what it meant, something you can’t really put into words without sounding too cheesy. That’s what you dream of as a kid. That is the cricket equivalent of the 30 yard screamer at Maine Road in the 89th minute.”
If Bethell’s contribution was not quite as spectacular, his landmark led to even greater celebrations. When he reached his 33-ball half-century, Bethell raised his bat in the direction of the Greenidge & Haynes Stand. There, a group of 20 or so relatives, many proudly holding top signs with his name, cheered his every run raucously. After Bethell pulled the winning runs, he embraced them all in turn.
The composure that Bethell displayed in managing his innings, and the silkiness of his late cutting, was the latest evidence of his talents. Absences afforded Bethell a promotion to number four, where a left-hander is essential to break up the right-handers above.
Salt recognised Bethell’s usual poise at the crease. “The head on his shoulders, the way he talks, the way he thinks about the game – he’s not a 21-year-old in that regard,” Salt said. “Just the way he goes out there, keeps it so simple, so clear, and just lets his skill come out. I don’t think that’s something a lot of 21-year-olds who are playing international cricket have.”
Whoever is at number four, they will not often have to cope with their number three getting dismissed for a golden duck, as Jos Buttler was here. The captain’s first innings for five months, in a new role as a specialist number three, was immediately terminated by an outlandish one-handed catch from Gudakesh Motie at third man.
Still, Buttler had plenty to be content with. In the field, he took two terrific catches – including one at slip, diving to his left. The new position also allowed Buttler greater scope to talk to his bowlers. Not that Saqib Mahmood needed much advice: he took three wickets with the new ball, bowling fast and full while generating inswing.
But Reece Topley, England’s other opening bowler, was less fortunate. In his despair after having to stop bowling midway through his third over because of an injured right knee, Topley was seen throwing a chair in frustration in the dressing room.
When Akeal Hosein succumbed to an Adil Rashid leg break, West Indies were 117-8 off 14.4 overs and in grave risk of being bowled out. It is the sort of position that, to perhaps every other country, would have had an obvious response: consolidate at a-run-a-ball, and delay the final assault until the last two overs.
As No 10 Gudakesh Motie launched his first ball over long on from Rashid, and then his second over long off, it emphasised how distinctive West Indies’ approach. Motie’s scintillating hitting, combining with the more muscular Romario Shepherd, helped West Indies loot 65 from the last 5.2 overs, to the delight of the supporters waving a Guyana flag.
Naturally some of the hitting was high-risk – Motie only just cleared long off from his second ball. But it was calculating too, with both players shuffling around their crease to target Sam Curran. The assault threatened to be decisive; in fact, it merely gave Salt and Bethell enough of a target to mark their happy homecomings.
11:59 PM GMT
England win by eight wickets
A wonderful century from Phil Salt and a debut half-century from Jacob Bethell seal victory for England. There can be no doubt that chasing is easier when the dew hits the outfield but to pull off the highest successful run chase at Bridgetown, sauntering to victory, is admirable indeed.
11:57 PM GMT
OVER 16.5 ENG 183/2 (Salt 103 Bethell 58)
Salt brings up his hundred by slamming a low full toss from Shepherd cross-batted through mid-on and through long-on’s desperate dive for four. It’s his third T20 hundred in the Caribbean.
The opener flat bats the next ball for a single over mid-off.
Bethell moves England to the verge with a glorious drive, one knee on the ground over cover for six. Two to get. That was the hundred partnership.
The next ball is a slow bouncer and Bethell pulls it off his eyebrows for two to win with 19 balls to spare and by wight wickets.
11:52 PM GMT
OVER 16: ENG 170/2 (Salt 98 Bethell 50)
Back to Shamar Joseph who goes for a wide and a couple of singles before trying the short one that Bethell pulls for six, his first of the innings, to move to 49. He goes again next ball, cloths it, but it lands safe at midwicket miles in from the rope and he becomes the youngest England batsman to make 50 in a T20i.
Jacob Bethell used to live in Barbados.
He’s just scored his maiden T20I half-century back where he grew up with his whole family watching on 🥹 pic.twitter.com/Y7CrPAsdUB
— Cricket on TNT Sports (@cricketontnt) November 9, 2024
Salt pushes hard for two with a midwicket whisk, watches the wide trickle down leg, then cuts the last ball for a single.
11:48 PM GMT
OVER 15: ENG 156/2 (Salt 94 Bethell 42)
Motie can’t grip the ball properly as the seam is sodden and tries to persuade the umpire to change it and, after Bethell drives with a thickish edge for four, he succeeds. On comes the bag of balls.
The replacement ball is taken for two by Bethell, using his bottom hand to flick it through midwicket for two before he whisks another away for a single. Bethell ends the over with a cut fine. Powell misfields then kicks the ball when chasing it as it gets stuck on the sanded, churned up outfield and he has to race to the boundary to claw it back. Motie can barely believe his eyes as they run three but wisely, as it’s his captain, stays schtum. The partnership is now 80. England need 27 from 30.
11:41 PM GMT
OVER 14: ENG 145/2 (Salt 93 Bethell 32)
Russell is heading off the field and Shepherd comes back. Bethell flat bats the first over cover for two then again attacks a wide one with a horizontal bat to swat it over extra for four. Salt climbs into the short ball and pulls it for four. Rutherford jumped up on the boundary, got both hands to it but it burst through for six. I think even had he clung on he would have not been able to stay in bounds anyway, not that Shepherd looks sympathetic because that was the plan.
Salt pat-pulls a single with a roll of the wrists for a single and Bethell makes it 15 off the over by smearing a single through point.
11:35 PM GMT
OVER 13: ENG 130/2 (Salt 86 Bethell 24)
Motie is disgusted when he beats Bethell outside off but he has a hack at it anyway, having to lean as far as he could to reach it, and snicks it for four off a horizontal bat down to third man. That’s the only significant damage as they satisfy themselves with a single apiece at either end of the over.
England need 53 off 42.
11:33 PM GMT
OVER 12: ENG 124/2 (Salt 85 Bethell 19)
Russell comes back on and spears a full toss on to Salt’s pads and he simply flicks it for six over long leg. The damp ball slipped out of his hand as the dew takes effect and so does the next which is sprayed on to leg stump. Salt tickles it round the corner for four more.
Russell, as he often does, seems to be limping in and England milk him for a pair of singles to offer him no succour.
11:28 PM GMT
OVER 11: ENG 110/2 (Salt 74 Bethell 16)
This is Salt’s 10th innings against West Indies in the Caribbean and he averages just a lick under 80.
Hosein will bowl out after a short drinks break. Salt uses the angle into him from round the wicket to shovel a single into the legside. Bethell, the left-hander, is beaten by one that skids past the edge and regroups to drive a single through cover. Salt works a single off his stumps down to long on and Bethell scalps a single giving the miserly Hosein closing figures of 4-0-20-0.
England need 73 off 54.
11:21 PM GMT
OVER 10: ENG 106/2 (Salt 72 Bethell 14)
Romario Shepherd, after a mini-break, and Bethell, like Salt raised in the Caribbean, plays a handsome on-drive on the up for four. The left-hander steals a single with an inelegant flip off the body and, after a wide, Salt whisks two through midwicket and then swats the slower bouncer for a single, tennis style.
Powell brings the third man into the ring and Bethell opens the face to steer four between him and point, bisecting them brilliantly.
11:17 PM GMT
OVER 9: ENG 93/2 (Salt 69 Bethell 5)
Motie comes back and Salt scoops him over his shoulder for two then gives himself room to mow the next ball through midwicket for four. Three more singles keep England well ahead of the rate.
11:12 PM GMT
OVER 8: ENG 84/2 (Salt 62 Bethell 3)
Powell brings Joseph back on and now with the protection of more fielders on the rope. He runs in and is told just to keep it tight and cramp the batsmen outside off. And after his earlier mauling, this fine prospect starts with two dot balls and only three singles off his first five deliveries until Salt plays the deftest of dabs, one that Joe Root would have been proud to call his own, precariously off middle and off, for four.
11:07 PM GMT
OVER 7: ENG 77/2 (Salt 57 Bethell 1)
Salt brings up his 1000th run in T20 internationals with a swipe off Shepherd through cover for two and then chips a single down the ground. Buttler is caught by the wonderful Motie in such jaw-dropping style that Buttler bursts out laughing. And even here in a deserted office save for me and six colleagues, we whooped with amazement.
11:03 PM GMT
Wicket!
Buttler c Motie b Shepherd 0 Even better than Buttler’s two catches. He’s out for a golden duck but no disgrace there. He had uppercut a short ball that was sailing for six at third man when Motie stuck up his left arm and somehow the ball stuck. Absolute screamer. FOW 75/2
11:01 PM GMT
OVER 6: ENG 73/1 (Salt 54 Buttler 0)
Motie opens with a leg-break and Salt clears the front leg to larrup a drive, all wrists like a Buttler hockey shot, for a straight six. Two balls later Motie errs too short and Salt sledgehammers him over midwicket for six, the ball hitting the big screen on the full. That’s fifty on his former stamping ground for Barbados-raised Salt. Then Salt Harrow drives for a single, Jacks drives the leg-stump leg break over long on for six and is then gated by a big leg break.
Fine opening partnership of 73 off 36.
10:58 PM GMT
Wicket!
Jacks b Motie 17 Bowled round the pads trying to sweep. FOW 73/1
10:54 PM GMT
OVER 5: ENG 54/0 (Salt 41 Jacks 11)
Superb, Schmeichel-esque infielding in the ring from King and Lewis allows Hosein to rack up four dot balls to Salt bookended by a pair of singles.
Joseph has been hooked after one over and Motie is coming on.
10:49 PM GMT
OVER 4: ENG 52/0 (Salt 40 Jacks 10)
Shamar Joseph is entrusted with pace in the Powerplay and begins with a legside wide. Salt flips a pick-up shot over long leg for six and then uses the width to deliberately slice a drive high over point for a one-bounce four. The next ball is another short one and Salt uppercuts it for four more. No point sweeper for those deliveries and now his captain give shim one so Salt plays a gorgeous hold-the-pose straight drive for four. Elegance and precision timing. The final ball is short and outside off, designed to bring the deep point into play and Salt carves a cut in front of square for four more.
10:44 PM GMT
OVER 3: ENG 28/0 (Salt 18 Jacks 9)
Hosein turns the screw with an impeccable length for five deliveries and snappy fielding in the infield but then drops short and Salt leans back to heave him over long on for six, low and flat but not low wnough for Rutherford to reach.
10:41 PM GMT
OVER 2: ENG 20/0 (Salt 11 Jacks 8)
Andre Russell shares new ball duties. He has a slip and a short fine leg who Jacks employs with a flick of the thigh pad for a leg-bye. Salt frees his arms but is bamboozled by length yet still manages to spoon a drive over the infield for two down to fine leg. Rutherford shows off his keepie-uppie skills when Salt slices a drive over cover. He thinks he can catch it but the ball catches the wind instead and sails away. Hwen it hits the turf it bounces up on to Rutherford’s knee and he has to hook it back from the boundary with his instep to keep them down to three.
After exchanging singles, Jacks plays a remarkable stroke, using the width and his height to reach the good length ball outside off and smear it over cover point for six!
10:34 PM GMT
OVER 1: ENG 6/0 (Salt 5 Jacks 1)
The left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein starts with an arm ball that slides past Salt’s inside edge. England’s keeper-batsman drives the next ball for a single through mid-off and Russell sprawls headlong to ensure it was only one.
Jacks flicks a single off his pads and Salt finds the boundary with a thumping drive that even Powell cannot stop at long on even though he got a hand on it.
10:28 PM GMT
Record breaking?
The highest successful chase at Bridgetown is 172 for six against England last year but in fairness England did make 204 for none there in 2022 but lost by 20 runs. Tom Banton made 73 off 39 and Phil Salt 57 off 24 for Moeen Ali’s side.
And they have successfully chases 183 or more eight times in the past.
10:21 PM GMT
End of innings
From 110 for seven, West Indies boldly escaped England’s stranglehold and now the touring side will need a record chase in a T20 to win. It’s a slow pitch and that’s a towering score now. England have rarely played Motie and Hosein well. Could be a bit of an ordeal if the top three cannot give England a flying start.
West Indies were 117 for eight off 14.4 overs in Barbados – the sort of position that would have led other teams to consolidate. Not this side.
West Indies scored 65 from the last 5.2 overs: some high-risk hitting, but their intent was completely vindicated.
10:19 PM GMT
OVER 20: WI 182/9 (Shepherd 35 Joseph 0)
Curran’s first ball, a slow cutter drifts on to leg and Shepherd flips it for six over long leg. The next ball is supposed to be a wide yorker but he doesn’t land it and Shepherd throws his bat at it and flays it over extra cover for another six.
He swings and misses at the next short ball, pace on from Curran and turns down a single when dragging a hacking back-foot drive through mid-on. The fifth ball, full and wide is dragged again but this time between fielders and they make it back for two. And he ends the innings slashing a drive over point with the field up for two more.
10:15 PM GMT
OVER 19: WI 166/9 (Shepherd 19 Joseph 0)
Mahmood is back for his final over, entrusted with the pivotal 19th. And he nails the yorker, yielding three singles off his opening three deliveries. He was mauled in Antigua at the death for 19 off his last over but is bowling beautifully here. After another wide yorker that they cannot score from, Motie swings and misses at the short slow one after the previous ball, which bounced higher, was called wide. And he dismisses Motie with the final ball.
Saqib ends with 4-0-34-4.
10:14 PM GMT
Wicket!
Motie c Mousley b Mahmood 33 Cloths the short cutter to cow corner. FOW 166/9
10:08 PM GMT
OVER 18: WI 162/8 (Shepherd 16 Motie 32)
Motie guides Overton’s first ball down through third man for four, foxed by the slower ball he nicks it wide of the keeper. Jammy but effective. That’s his highest score in the format. Shepherd joins in with a legside whisk off his toes for four more. The way West Indies have kept the pedal to the metal, unfazed by the wickets column, has been admirable.
10:04 PM GMT
OVER 17: WI 152/8 (Shepherd 11 Motie 27)
Motie waits for Curran’s cutter and slaps it off the back foot with a horizontal bat over cover for four then plays an inside out drive to a low, leg stump full toss, wide of mid-off for another. He’s got 26 off six balls at a SR of 433.33!
Curran goes too high and loose when he sees Motie retreating to leg and is called wide. Curran responds by going full on leg and outside and Motie emasculates his strike rate with a dot ball and a single.
09:59 PM GMT
OVER 16: WI 141/8 (Shepherd 11 Motie 18)
Shepherd flexes his biceps to lamp Livingstone over mid-off for four then taps a single to cover. Motie treats Livingstone with th same shabby disregard as Rashid, larruping a drive over extra cover for four then, after a wide, finding the gap at square leg to exasperate England and come back for two.
09:56 PM GMT
OVER 15: WI 129/8 (Shepherd 6 Motie 12)
Set a thief to catch a thief. Having flummoxed Hosein, Rashid is taken down by the other Windies spinner, Motie slogging his first ball over long on for six and thumping the next over long off for another with murderous power. Rashid thought the fielder should have caught it but he didn’t have time to get there, so powerfully was it hit.
09:52 PM GMT
Wicket!
Hosein lbw b Rashid 2 Hosein was utterly clueless there, misreading both leg breaks and the drift. FOW 117/8
09:52 PM GMT
WI review
Hosein lbw b Rashid Next ball he pins him on the back leg. Surely that’s out, as the umpire said.
09:51 PM GMT
NOT OUT
It was turning past the left-hander’s leg stump having hit him in front of middle.
09:50 PM GMT
WI review
Hosein lbw b Rashid Did he hit it? The batsman thinks so. Nope. No bat. Did he think the leg-break was turning past leg-stump, then?
09:49 PM GMT
OVER 14: WI 117/7 (Shepherd 6 Hosein 2)
Don’t know why Pooran asked the umpires to check for a clean catch. It was nowhere near the ground. Anyway, Overton has his first T20i wicket. Shepherd pulls hard for four and exchanges singles with Hosein to end the over.
09:44 PM GMT
Wicket!
Pooran c Buttler b Overton 38 Buttler pouched that perfectly and acrobatically, jumping high to snaffle it one-handed at extra cover and then executing a roll while treating the ball with the delicacy he would a Faberge egg. Pooran had spliced his cut. FOW 110/7
09:43 PM GMT
Oh hang on
They’re checking for a clean catch
09:43 PM GMT
Wicket!
Pooran c Buttler b Overton 38
09:43 PM GMT
OVER 13: WI 109/6 (Pooran 38 Shepherd 1)
Livingstone comes on and starts with a leg break to Russell who miscues a lofted off drive between long off and cover. He gets away with that one and runs two. A couple of balls later he crouches in his crease, pulls his front leg into the onside and flays a drive out of the ground, over the roof and away, as Bob Mortimer would say. But then Livingstone laughs last and loudest …
09:39 PM GMT
Wicket!
Russell c Mousley b Livingstone 30 Off walks Dre with his peroxide Mohawk, having hit the ball out of the ground the ball before he slices a drive straight to the cover sweeper and drops to his knees. FOW 108/6
09:37 PM GMT
OVER 12: WI 100/5 (Pooran 38 Russell 22)
Sam Curran comes on to take up the slack left by Topley’s injury. This is a test of nerve and technique. He starts with two cutters, wide of off stump but not too wide, that go in the book as dots. Pooran cuts the next one on a similar trajectory for two to backward point who fields on the slide.
Pooran opens the face to drive for a single to the same fielder and Russell wipes the sweat from his brow before taking guard with two balls to go. Mid-off up. Currran surprises him with the bouncer, very close to the batsman, and Russell ducks it hastily. The final ball is a legside yorker and Russell plays the Sciver Harrow drive through his legs, AKA ‘the Natmeg’ for a single to bring up the hundred.
09:31 PM GMT
OVER 11: WI 96/5 (Pooran 35 Russell 21)
Matthew Pepper, on as a sub for Reece Topley, backpedals at mid-on and dives to try to catch Russell’s clothed hoick one-handed but gets it all wring, much to Rashid’s disgust, And then to add insult to injury, or vice versa, Russell blasts the leg-spinner for two sixes with sheer, brute force, toeing both high into the onside stands. No middle, no bother. No justice either.
Confirmation that Reece Topley jarred his right knee the ball before the rain break; he bowled one ball after, then went off. Topley will not return to field for our bowling innings. More injury woe for the left-armer.
09:27 PM GMT
OVER 10: WI 81/5 (Pooran 34 Russell 8)
Russell, having started with exaggerated dutifulness and restraint, flicks the switch, swivels and clobbers a back of a length delivery from Overton over square leg for six! Until that point and, indeed, after it, Overton bowled well, giving up singles but nothing for these two flashing bladesmen to devour.
Time for drinks.
09:22 PM GMT
OVER 9: WI 71/5 (Pooran 32 Russell 1)
I have said it before and will say it again. Rashid is a diamond. Against some of the most formidable and most wealthy franchise hitters in the game, he has 2-0-6-2. And still he can’t earn an IPL contract.
Dre Russell has the most ridiculous pads on. Like big shinpads.
09:17 PM GMT
Wicket!
Rutherford c Buttler b Rashid 2 Blimey! A magnificent one-handed grab by Buttler to his left at slip as Rutherford cut the leg-break and ended up top edging it. He doesn’t need the gloves. That was as good a slip catch as you will see. Turn and bounce for Rashid as he varies his pace. FOW 68/5
What a grab from Jos Buttler at first slip – the ball looked well behind him when he plucked it out. England are well on top, though they now have Andre Russell to contend with.
09:17 PM GMT
OVER 8: WI 68/4 (Pooran 30 Rutherford 2)
Mousley comes on with his busy off-breaks. In he bustles, serves up a low full toss first up and Pooran collars it witheringly, hammering it over midwicket for a gargantuan six. But Mousley is a tight bowler when he lands it and gets out of the rest of the over with four dot balls and a single.
Reece Topley was clearly distraught after hobbling off after managing just one ball after the restart, which Rovman Powell launched for six. Looks like his right knee is injured – yet another injury for him. Topley was seen throwing a chair in frustration in the dressing room.
09:12 PM GMT
OVER 7: WI 59/4 (Pooran 23 Rutherford 2)
Time for Rashid who has taken Pooran’s wicket four times in white-ball games. But he takes Powell’s for the third time instead for starters.
09:09 PM GMT
Wicket!
Powell c Overton b Rashid 18 Fine work by Overton, so tall he’s on stilts, at long-on to catch a slogged drive above his head off the toe of his bat. Rashid strikes again! FOW 59/4
09:08 PM GMT
OVER 6: WI 57/3 (Pooran 21 Powell 18)
Saqib has a third over, drops short at its beginning and Pooran smacks a pull for six over mid-on. The next ball nips back on and hits the left-hander on the top of the left thigh as he swings and misses. Too high and pitched outside leg, I think, and they scramble a leg-bye. Pooran opens the face on a drive to steer four behind point and then climbs into another pull, carting it over midwicket for another six!
09:02 PM GMT
OVER 5: WI 39/3 (Pooran 5 Powell 17)
We resume with Topley fut to continue after a 32 minute break and Powell pumps his first ball back over his head for four. No he isn’t fit to carry on and, when the much injured left-arm seamer walks off the field, he picks up a picnic chair and hurls it in frustration.
So Overton will complete the over and does so with two dot balls.
08:51 PM GMT
Play will restart at 9pm GMT
Looks like the wet outfield has been defiled by the tractors with some of the turf churned up and the odd divot gouged out.
No overs lost. Some sand being applied to the fine leg area – where it was raining particularly heavily.
08:35 PM GMT
It has stopped raining
And the groundstaff are dragging the rope around the outfield between two mini-tractors.
08:30 PM GMT
So far so good
Incredibly localised shower at Kensington Oval: it was raining heavily on poor Adil Rashid at fine leg, while most the rest of the fielders were fine. But, worryingly, Reece Topley slipped in his delivery stride bowling the last ball before the rain: he’s now walking off gingerly. Don’t expect these showers to last although yesterday there were brutal storms in Barbados. That aside, so far so good for Jos Buttler in his new role fielding at mid off, making it much easier for him to chat to bowlers before the start of each over. Not that Saqib Mahmood, who has bowled fast and full while generating inswing, has needed much advice: he’s taken 3-12, including a peach of a delivery that left Shimron Hetmyer first ball.
08:28 PM GMT
OVER 4.3: WI 33/3 (Pooran 5 Powell 11)
Powell plays a streaky but effective glide down through third man for four, the ball flying off the edge for four. Topley slips and falls heavily when delivering the third ball of the over, dragging it down and banging his knee heavily and possibly twisting his ankle, too. Powell tucks in and collars the short ball for six, this time off the top edge behind square leg. The rain thickens and off the players go for a spell. Hopefully Topley will be OK but he is shaking his head as he walks off…
Rains stops play.
08:24 PM GMT
OVER 4: WI 23/3 (Pooran 5 Powell 1)
Excellent from Saqib who has bowled beautifully, precise line and length, giving the batsmen no room. Powell sees off the new ball with a drilled drive to cover who stops the run but when he squeezes a single to point he gives Pooran the strike and he flips the last ball of the over off middle behind square for four as it starts to rain.
08:19 PM GMT
Wicket!
Hetmyer c Salt b Mahmood 0 Nicks off first ball and Saqib is on a hat-trick after nibbling the ball away from the left-hander! A comeback to forget for Shimron! FOW 18/3
08:17 PM GMT
Wicket!
Lewis c Bethell b Mahmood 13 England burned a review the previous ball and West Indies burgled a leg-bye but Mahmood is not to be denied and bags the opener next ball when he flicks a wobbling, back-of a length delivery to deep backward square. Too straight to play the pick up shot. FOW 18/2
08:16 PM GMT
NOT OUT
Indeed. Pitched outside leg. Good call by the umpire.
08:16 PM GMT
ENG review
Pooran lbw b Mahmood Pitched outside leg?
08:15 PM GMT
OVER 3: WI 17/1 (Lewis 13 Pooran 1)
Pooran also uses his feet to Topley but again, like King, is followed by the bowler and cramped. No run. He takes on the slow bouncer, a cutter I think, and gloves it loopily over Salt’s outstretched right arm for a single. Topley cramps Lewis next ball too but the last ball is biffed through mid-on for four. Stand and deliver!
08:10 PM GMT
OVER 2: WI 11/1 (Lewis 8 Pooran 0)
Saqib goes full, also looking for swing and avoiding the short, square boundaries but he overdoes it and Lewis creams an off-drive for four, He drives the second delivery, too, but only for a single and King follows that by shovelling a shorter ball through midwicket. Didn’t really get up on this used pitch.
Some gentle shape for Saqib, Lewis waits and works it through midwicket with a stirring motion of the bottom hand. And then, after king’s hundred the other day, he chips straight to Overton and walks away with 99 fewer runs than Wednesday’s haul.
08:07 PM GMT
Wicket!
King c Overton b Mahmood 3 Spoons a drive to short cover after backing away to leg. The ball came off the bat higher up than he expected as Saqib Mahmood followed him a little. FOW 11/1
08:04 PM GMT
OVER 1: WI 4/0 (King 2 Lewis 2)
King drives the first ball, well pitched up and looking for swing, but cannot pierce cover but gets weaving next ball with a leg glance for a single. Lewis, the left-hander, swivel pulls for a single and then King plays tip and run just past the bowler. Swirling wind from the right-hander’s offside from this end. Lewis ends the over with a fourth single off it, nudged calmly into the onside.
08:00 PM GMT
Right, Reece Topley has the new ball
Short square boundary and explosive batsmen. Not one you would put your hand up for.
07:46 PM GMT
Kensington Oval pleasingly vibrant for T20
Good afternoon from Barbados – cracking atmosphere for the first game of the T20 series, which feels much more of an event than the ODIs. Jos Buttler is indeed taking up a new role as number three, but he will first lead England in the field, with Phil Salt taking the gloves. The toss is often significant at Kensington Oval; England will hope that is true today, too.
07:41 PM GMT
Your teams
West Indies Brandon King, Evin Lewis, Nicholas Pooran (wk), 4 Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell (capt), Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Andre Russell, Akeal Hosein, Gudakesh Motie, Shamar Joseph.
England Phil Salt (wk), Will Jacks, Jos Buttler (capt), Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, Sam Curran, Dan Mousley, Jamie Overton, Saqib Mahmood, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley.
07:34 PM GMT
England have won the toss
And out West Indies in to bat.
Jos Buttler is hoping to exploit yesterday’s rain and feels comfortable chasing, too. No Jofra Archer today.
06:28 PM GMT
Preview: Buttler redux
Good evening and welcome to live coverage of the first of five Twenty20 internationals between West Indies and England, following on from the touring side’s 2-1 defeat in the ODI series this week. Jos Buttler returns to lead the side that beat the hosts in the T20 World Cup in June before losing their title in the semi-final defeat by India, which was the last time Buttler played. Having recovered from the calf injury that has cost him five months of white-ball cricket, Buttler takes over a squad that Phil Salt skippered to a 1-1 draw with Australia in September and cedes the gloves to his deputy, relieving him of the difficulty of captaining an attack in transition from behind the stumps.
As ever in international cricket these days, we are none too far away from another World Cup, this one in India and Sri Lanka in February 2026 and both sides have already qualified by virtue of their performances in the last tournament while Pakistan, New Zealand, Ireland and Zimbabwe still have to book their places. England have won 17 and lost 13 of their completed T20 matches in the Caribbean against all-comers, nine victories and 10 defeats in matches versus West Indies.
In their last match on this rotten Bridgetown square last December, Salt and Buttler out on 77 off 37 balls for the first wicket, Alzarri Joseph, suspended today for his strop in the final ODI, took three for 54, Dre Russ three for 19 and an unbeaten 29 to take them home by four wickets with 11 balls to spare. One crumb of comfort that day was the performance of both leggies – Adil Rashid taking two for 25 and Rehan Ahmed three for 39. Both are in the squad, as well as a third leg-spinner, Rashid’s Yorkshire colleague Jafer Chohan. While they won’t pick all three, it’s pretty clear what their thinking is as they build towards that next World Cup but it’s the batting where the biggest holes are and Will Jacks, Jacob Bethell, Jordan Cox and Dan Mousley now need to press their case with runs as well as promise.
