Courtesy: England Cricket
On Sunday, June 8, England defeated West Indies by four wickets with nine balls to spare in the second T20I, to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series at the County Ground in Bristol. After West Indies posted a formidable total of 196/6 on the board in their allotted 20 overs, the highly accomplished England batting lineup made light work of the target with decent innings from most of their batters.
For the unversed, after winning the toss, Harry Brook, the captain of England, had an easy decision to bowl first during the late afternoon start time of the second T20I match on the weekend. He couldn’t have asked for a perfect start from his bowlers as left-arm pacer Luke Wood trapped Evin Lewis in front of the stumps on the first ball of the West Indies, to reduce the visitors to 0/1.
But then, West Indies captain Shai Hope (49 off 38) shared a second wicket stand of 90 runs with veteran Johnson Charles (47 off 38), to put his team in a very good position to post a decent total on the board. After Shai Hope, Sherfane Rutherford, and Johnson Charles lost their wickets in quick succession, the likes of Rovman Powell (34 off 15), Romario Shepherd (19 off 11), and Jason Holder (29 off 9) played impactful innings, to help take West Indies total within touching distance of 200 runs, while Luke Wood finished his spell with figures of 2/25.
In the run chase, England lost the wicket of new opener Jamie Smith cheaply on the bowling of Jason Holder before Jos Buttler came out to the middle and carried on from where he had left off in the first T20I at Edgbaston in Birmingham. The former England captain scored 47 runs in 36 balls, sharing key partnerships for the second and third wickets with Ben Duckett (30 off 18) and Harry Brook (34 off 20), to put his team in complete command in the run chase.
Jacob Bethell scored a quick-fire 26 off 10, which had one four and three sixes, to bring England on the brink of victory before Tom Banton, who made an unbeaten 30 off 11 with three fours and two sixes, finished off the job alongside Brydon Carse at the other end.
