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On Friday, June 6, England defeated West Indies in the opening T20I of the three-match series by 21 runs to go up 1-0 in the series. Coming into the series after whitewashing the Windes by 3-0 margin in the ODI-leg, England continued to impress, and dominated their opponents, courtesy a 96-run knock from Jos Buttler and four-wicket haul from Liam Dawson.
The Harry Brook-led side won the toss and elected to bat first at the Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street. On the back of 59-ball 96 from wicketkeeper-batter Jos Buttler, the hosts posted 188/6 in their stipulated 20 overs. Jamie Smith also chipped in with a a 20-ball 38, whereas Jacob bethell scored run a ball 23*. In reply, on the back of a four-wicket haul from Laim Dawson, England restricted the Shai Hope-led side to 167/9, handing them a 21-run defeat.
Jos Buttler becomes only fourth batter to score 600-plus runs against West Indies
Jos Buttler, who played an explosive inning of 96 to guide his team to victory, might have missed a century, but etched several feats in the process. The 34-year-old with his brilliant knock, which included six fours and four sixes, went up to complete over 600 runs against West Indies. As per the data available on ESPNcricinfo, Buttler now has 611 runs against the Windies across 23 T20Is.
He sits at fourth place after Rohit Sharma (693), David Warner (662) and Phil Salt (640) to get past the 600-run mark against the team. Moreover, he smashed his fifth fifty against the Caribbean side, equalling Rohit Sharma and Babar Azam’s tally. Only David Warner (7) and Virat Kohli (6) have more 50-plus scores against West Indies.
While the English side will hope to continue their domination against West Indies as they take on the Shai Hope-led side in the second T20I on Sunday, June 8 at the County Ground in Bristol, the Windies, however, will hope to make a strong comeback and level the series.
