England launch T20 World Cup campaign with rout of West Indies

Report

Adil Rashid takes 4 for 2 as England bowl West Indies out for 55 and complete the chase inside nine overs

England 56 for 4 (Buttler 24*) beat West Indies 55 (Rashid 4-2, Moeen 2-17) by six wickets

There was no thriller in the repeat of the 2016 T20 World Cup final, as West Indies played low-percentage cricket on a difficult pitch to be bowled out for 55, a target England had to work reasonably hard to overhaul, losing four wickets and taking 8.2 overs. Between them, England spinners Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid bowled 6.2 overs for 19 runs and took six wickets.

That it wasn’t extremely easy for England while chasing will make West Indies question their approach – they lost nine of their 10 wickets looking to hit a four or a six, 59 of the 86 balls they faced were dots, and they made no attempt to rebuild after losing early wickets.

Whether West Indies aimed too high and fell too short, or they didn’t trust themselves to bat at a run a ball for five or six overs without taking risks is something we will get to know if they are caught batting first on a difficult pitch again in this tournament.

Full report to follow

Sidharth Monga is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo

Source: ESPN Crickinfo

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