Opener Phil Salt slammed a belligerent unbeaten 87 as defending champions England began their T20 World Cup Super Eight campaign with a crushing eight-wicket win over co-hosts West Indies here.
Coming off a scorching display against Afghanistan, the West Indies amassed a competitive 180/4, but England waltzed to 181/2 in 17.3 overs in their Group 2 match.
Salt led the Three Lions’ charge with a bruising innings that came off 47 balls with seven fours and five sixes. The right-hander received copious help from Jonny Bairstow (48 not out, 26b, 5×4, 2×6).
But credit should also be given to the English bowlers for producing as many as 51 dot balls with Jofra Archer (1/34) and Adil Rashid (1/21) accounting for 22 of them.
Their win with 15 balls to spare took the net run-rate of England to 1.343, putting them ahead of South Africa who posted a win over tournament co-hosts USA earlier on Wednesday.
“That’s a really good performance from us, we executed well with both bat and ball… Smart play from us,” skipper Jos Buttler said.