Key events
5th over: England 35-1 (Jacks 22, Buttler 12) Forde throws down the stumps as England go for a quick single, but Buttler just makes his ground. Jacks leans back as if lowering the sun lounger and sends Hosein down the ground for six. Nine from the over.
4th over: England 26-1 (Jacks 14, Buttler 11) Forde not letting Buttler get bat on ball – three dots, but he drives past extra cover with typical steel to break the deadlock. Four more, if more riskily.
3rd over: England 18-1 (Jacks 14, Buttler 3) Hosein is a serious-looking fellow and continues with his work in a serious manner. Jacks picks up four more but Mark Butcher says West Indies won’t mind that as he made himself lots of room.
2nd over: England 11-1 (Jacks 9, Buttler 1) Not much easier from Forde, who has the ball swinging. JAcks has a couple of near misses just in front of slip and short fine leg before picking up a couple of dreamy boundaries in his audition for the opening spot.
1st over: England 2-1 (Jacks 1, Buttler 1) Gorgeous from Hosein, Buttler nearly done for his second duck in a row but just gets his bat down in time. This could get tasty.
Hello there Guy Hornsby. “So happy to see Dan Mousley get his first wicket tonight, even more so with the pace on Yorker. It’s just an incredible weapon. After Jacob Bethell last night, it’s great to see the new kids on the block get amongst the action.
“But even more so than that, seeing Saqib Mahmood bowl so well is so heartening after the appalling luck he’s had. You hope he’s got a good run of fitness coming, because he’s the real deal.”
Agreed on every count!
WICKET! Salt c King b Hosein 0 (England 0-1)
Salt flays with abandon at the first ball of the innings and picks out King at extra-cover who juggles but holds on at the second attempt. From conquering hero to big fat zero.
The West Indies are tactics-ing in a final circle, the heavy roller is journeying up and down. Salt and Jacks are in the middle – the chase begins.
“Nicholas Pooran sounds like 12th century Pope to me.” taps Gary Naylor. “Should I get out more?” Gary, I couldn’t possibly advise
(Google tells me there have been five Pontiffs called Nicholas)
England will need 159 to win!
A good recovery there from West Indies in not easy conditions – interesting to see what the pitch will do as the Bajan evening sets in. Were England a little wayward? How about I tell you in 20 overs’ time.
20th over: West Indies 158-8 (Forde 13, Terrance 5) A wicket with Mousley’s first ball, but 14 from the over as five wides fly down the leg side, and Hinds and Forde both pick up a boundary each. England will need a run rate of 7.90, with some helpful conditions for the bowlers, a soggy outfield and an extra spin option up West Indies’ sleeve.
WICKET! Shepherd c Jacks b Mousley 22 (West Indies 143-8)
Can’t nail the yorker this time but it doesn’t matter as Shepherd goes for broke but can’t clear mid-wicket!
19th over: West Indies 143-7 (Shepherd 27, Forde 9) Curran gets the penultimate over. Starts with a couple of wides from around the wicket. Shepherd smokes him down the ground for four, Forde joins in, with Englandunable to prevent it powering over the rope, either with the initial dive, or the riccochet. A third four driven with a side of oysters by Forde. Seventeen from it.
18th over: West Indies 126-7 (Shepherd 16, Forde 0) A wicket maiden for Rashid – though there are four byes, which Saqib tries to stop and somehow avoids serious injury as he slides and huge chunk of the wet outfield comes away with him. The same happens to Overton as he lands whilst catching Motie.
WICKET! Motie c Overton b Rashid 9 (West Indies 126-7)
Motie chugs for glory, but can only scythe Rashid up and Overton collects at long on.
17th over: West Indies 122-6 (Shepherd 16, Motie 9) Buttler beckons back Jofra, and West Indies take 12 from his over. Archer heavy with the slower balls – one gets edged by a fly-me-wide Shepherd for four, another flies past Buttler at cover, who watches it go. Archer not so happy about that.
16th over: West Indies 110-6 (Shepherd 4, Motie 8) Mousley gets his first international wicket – and what a face for the pinboard -but is then carved for two fours by the irrespresible Motie.
WICKET! Powell b Mousley 44 (West Indies 102-6)
Powell gives Mosely a filthy look as he realises he’s been yorked by a dart. A corking innings, but crucially not there at the end.
15th over: West Indies 101-5 (Powell 43, Shepherd 4) Powell flaps a hankerchief and miscues six off Rashid, a delicate paddle for a couple more here, a short ball cut for four there. Powell takes 16 off five balls.
14th over: West Indies 85-5 (Powell 27, Shepherd 4) Another over of Mousley’s darts, Shepherd picks up four from a freakish edge.
WICKET! Rutherford lbw Livingstone 1 (West Indies 80-5)
13th over: West Indies 80-5 (Powell 25) Powell casually frying pans Livingstone onto the roof for six. The umpire comes out with a bag of balls. A handful of singles follow then a huge appeal for lbw against Rutherford. Umpire says no, third umpire says YES YES YES! A classic offbreak that would have knocked down middle.
12th over: West Indies 71-4 (Powell 18, Rutherford 0) Just one from Mousley’s over of allsorts.
WICKET! Pooran stumped Salt b Livingstone 14 (West Indies 70-4)
11th over: West Indies 70-4 (Powell 17) First ball after drinks and Livingstone is slain for four through midwicket. Pooran switch hits a single before falling onto his nose. A ripper next ball bamboozles Powell – then Pooran is done by corking offie that draws him down the pitch, and Salt does the rest. Livingstone is glee on legs.
10th over: West Indies 63-3 (Pooran 13, Powell 9) Curran keeping it tight once more, West Indies doing nothing too hasty as they aim to build a platform. Time for DRINKS at the halfway point in the innings.
9th over: West Indies 60-3 (Pooran 12, Powell 9) Powell sweeps consecutive balls from Rashid with surprising delicacy for a man mountain.
Hello there Showbizguru, “OBO saves the day again.
In the perfect beach bar in St Maarten enjoying a ‘ Dutch ‘ cheroot and Happy Hour margarita ($5 a pop) and the tellies are all showing yee-haa American football.
Could be worse I suppose…”
I’m glad we’re here with a big juicy cherry for your perfect beach bar. Room for any rogue OBO-ers?
8th over: West Indies 54-3 (Pooran 10, Powell 5) Curran examines the bottom of his bowling boots and scampers in. On the button immediately with a maiden. Marcus Trescothick scribbles in his notebook on the balcony with one of those click-clack biros with the different colour inks.
7th over: West Indies 54-3 (Pooran 10, Powell 5) It’s Adil Rashid time, royal blue towel tucked in his waistband. Powell has his cap on in readiness. A wide wanders down the legside and otherwise West Indies fairly comfortably rotate the strike.
6th over: West Indies 44-3 (Pooran 5, Powell 1) A loose ball for Saqib puts four leg byes on the board for West Indies but a tight over otherwise and nearly removes Pooran’s ankles with a glorious yorker, which is well dug out.
5th over: West Indies 39-3 (Pooran 5, Powell 0) Pooran picks up four first ball, but Jofra follows up with five immaculate pencil point dots.
4th over: West Indies 35-3 (Pooran 1, Powell 0) Saqib gets his reward after sending down two wides and being driven gloriously by Chase for two fours. This is not easy bowling to face.
WICKET! Chase lbw Saqib 13 (West Indies 35-3)
Saqib, who has been struggling with the swinging ball, is suddenly pitch perfect with a wobble-seaming beauty that fires into Chase’s pad. Chase reviews with a frown, but the ball is trimming the top of the stumps, it is umpire’s call, and off he must trudge.
3rd over: West Indies 25-2 (Pooran 1, Chase 5) Lewis swivel-pulls Archer’s second ball for four, but that’s his lot as he immediately is bewitched by some kind of sorcery. Chase nearly falls first ball, slicing another lifter through the slips but just high enough that even Overton on take-off couldn’t grab it. There is, say the commentators, dampness in the pitch.
WICKET! Lewis c Salt b Archer (West Indies 20-2)
A brute of a delivery from Archer, spitting nastily. Lewis, as he twists to avoid it, gets a brush of glove on ball which then plops into Salt’s gloves
2nd over: West Indies 16-1 (Pooran 1, Lewis 4) Saqib continues to make the ball sing, drawing in King and swinging the white ball with gusto, down the legside for five wides, then wide on the off side, before crashing into Lewis’ pads. A third wide before the over is out.
WICKET! King c Livingstone b Saqib 1 (West Indies 6-1)
King has a wild hoick and the ball flies up, up and suddenly drops to a back-pedalling Liam Livingstone at mid-off.
1st over: West Indies 6-0 (King 1, Lewis 4). Jofra from the Joel Garner end, in his trimmed trousers and loose shirt. Gets movement straight away, troubling Lewis in particular. He picks up four by dabbing through where second slip might have been chewing his nails – not entirely sure that was on purpose.
Out come the players, Archer is drying his hands in the dust – and off we go.
Terrance Hinds has just been handed his first West Indies cap at the ripe age of 32. And very pleased he looks too.
Pitch report
They’ve had lots of rain in Barbados and the outfield is soggy. A different pitch today – but it looks just as perky and grass-bare, not many cracks. In the words of Brathwaite: bowlers beware!
Saqib Mahmood is in a bucket hat channelling his inner Burnage after yesterday’s four wickets. “We don’t make it too complicated, keep it as simple as possible, their batting order is pretty stacked.”
Carlos Brathwaite on what the West Indies unit could do to improve on Saturday’s somewhat wayward performance: “Yesterday as a bowling unit, especially from the Malcolm Marshall End, the seamers gave too much width. Can you be a bit tighter, limit the damage early in the power play, put a bit more pressure on them in overs five and six, and pick up the wickets at the back end?
West Indies XI
Three changes: Matthew Forde replaces Shamar Joseph, Roston Chase swaps in for Shimron Hetmyer, while Terrance Hinds must pull on the injured Andre Russell’s big boots.
West Indies: 1 Brandon King, 2 Evin Lewis, 3 Nicholas Pooran (wk), 4 Sherfane Rutherford, 5 Rovman Powell (c), 6 Romario Shepherd, 7 Roston Chase, 8 Terrance Hinds, 9 Gudakesh Motie,10 Akeal Hosein, 11 Matthew Forde
England XI
One change: Jofra Archer replaces Reece Topley.
England: 1 Phil Salt (wk), 2 Will Jacks, 3 Jos Buttler (c), 4 Liam Livingstone, 5 Jacob Bethell, 6 Sam Curran, 7 Dan Mousley, 8 Jamie Overton, 9 Saqib Mahmood, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Jofra Archer
England win the toss and will bowl!
Buttler calls correctly, again. “We are going to bowl first again because we put in a good performance and want to repeat it.”
News on Reece Topley? “He’s doing ok, he’s going to miss today with Jofra Archer coming in but it doesn’t look like anything serious.”
Why is he batting at No.3? “An opportunity to do something different and gives Jacks an opportunity to try it in the international game. We’re having a look at the balance and see how it goes.”
win the toss and will
The TNT studio is open. Someone give Steven Finn and Sam Billings a chair.
Preamble
Good evening/afternoon/morning, wherever you are. We roll into this second T20, of a five-match series, with the scorch marks from England’s smokin victory last night still on the grass. Phil Salt (103) and Jacob Bethell (58), two of England’s bombastic Barbados boys, ensured that England cruised past West Indies with 3.1 overs left. Can they do it again? Play starts at 8pm GMT, do join us to find out.