England's wicketkeeper-batter Phil Salt continued his stellar run on England soil in the shortest format. Salt scored his third T20I century against West Indies to lead England to a comfortable eight-wicket win in the series opener at Kensington Oval, Barbados. Salt's unbeaten 103 and Jacob Bethell's unbeaten 36-ball 58 helped England chase down 183 with 19 balls to spare.
Saqib gets the new ball talking
Earlier, Jos Buttler who returned after recovering from a calf injury, won the toss and opted to bowl first. Saqib Mahmood struck thrice with the new ball to dismiss openers Brandon King, Evin Lewis and Shimron Hetmyer. After a brief rain distruption, Rovman Powell and Nicholas Pooran looked to make full use of powerplay overs. West Indies were 58/3 after six overs. Adil Rashid struck with the second ball he bowled. Powell departed for a 10-ball 18. In this next over, Rashid dismissed Sherfane Rutherford as well.
Cameos help West Indies post fighting total
Andre Russell hit Rashid for a couple of sixes. Russell's cameo was ended by Liam Livingstone in the 13th over. He scored 30 runs from 17 balls. Nicholas Pooran could not get a big score as Buttler grabbed a stunner. Pooran scored 38 runs from 29 balls including two fours and three sixes. Rashid in his final over got the wicket of Akeal Hosein before Gundakesh Motie hit him for two sixes. In the penultimate over, Motie departed for a 14-ball 33. Romario Shepherd hit two sixes in the final over helping West Indies post 182/9.
Salt dominates
In the run chase, Will Jacks opened with Salt instead of Buttler. In the fourth over, Salt hit Shamar Joseph for a six and four fours. In the sixth over, he reached his fifty from 25 balls. Jacks hit a six before getting bowled by Motie for a 10-ball 17. England were 73/1 after powerplay overs. Buttler departed for a golden duck as Motie took a stunner at third man off Shepherd's bowling. At the halfway stage, England were 106/2.
While Bethell played second fiddle, Salt kept hitting boundaries and did not let the game slip away in the middle overs. In the 16th over, Bethell hit the first six of the innings. He reached his half-century from 33 balls. On the first ball of the 17th over, Salt reached his third T20I century with a boundary. He took 53 balls to reach three figures. Bethell hit another six and then finished the run chase off the fifth ball of the 17th over.
The next T20I of the series will be played at the same venue on November 10.
Salt not retained by KKR
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) used up all their retentions but did not retain Salt. He came in as a replacement and scored 435 runs from 12 innings at an average of 39.54 including four fifties. He will be a hot property in the Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction. The opener has opted for Rs 2 crore as his base price .
