Haridev Pushparaj
Muscat, Oct 23
England produced a scintillating bowling performance to humble West Indies by six wickets in their ICC T20 World Cup Group 1 match at the Dubai International Stadium, on Saturday.
The clash between the defending ICC T20 World champions and the runner’s up of the previous edition in 2016 turned out to be a damp squib.
Although, England had a bit of a scare with the bat, they managed to romp home inside nine overs without much ado.
After West Indies were skittled out for 55 in 14.2 overs with 34 balls unplayed, England overhauled the target in 8.2 overs to bag the two points on offer in what is effectively the ‘Group of Death’.
However, it was their excellent bowling effort and West Indies with their abysmal batting ensured the game was reduced to a no-contest, one-sided affair.
WINDIES DISINTEGRATE
Earlier, West Indies were in complete disarray with their batting as they lost more than half their side in under 10 overs.
The fearsome Windies big-hitters struggled with spin and pace alike on the slow, sluggish surface of the Dubai International Stadium.
Adil Rashid was the star of the show for England returning match figures of 4/2 while the vastly experienced Moeen Ali did some early damage to the West Indies as he picked up the wickets of opener Lendl Simmons and the explosive Shimron Hetmyer.
Ali wrapped up his quota of four overs for 2-17 in four overs answering his critics in style.
Tymal Mills scalped the dangerous Chris Gayle first and later took out Nicholas Pooran to leave the West Indies in tatters. In between Chris Jordan had sent Dwayne Bravo back to the pavillion and when Andre Russell was castled by Adil Rashid, the West Indies were in complete shambles.
Rashid was in fine nick as he claimed the wickets of Kieron Pollard and Obed McCoy in no time as West Indies pretty much folded up. It was a dismal batting performance from the defending champions of the T20 World Cup as they got shot out for 55.
