England 117 for 0 (Buttler 83*) beat USA 115 (Nitish 30, Jordan 4-10, Rashid 2-13) by ten wickets
The target of 116 needed to be chased down in 18.4 overs to ensure England’s NRR would go ahead of South Africa’s and ensure they had a firm grasp on second-place in the group. Buttler, however, was aiming higher.
After a quiet start, Buttler raced to 44 from 26 deliveries at the end of the powerplay – in which England scored 60 – which included cracking a solar panel with the first of two consecutive sixes off Saurabh Netravalkar.
He saved his most brutal assault for Harmeet Singh’s second over – the ninth – getting the strike for the second ball and striking five sixes. The first took him to his first half-century of the tournament, from 32 deliveries. An over later, Buttler’s late cut took England over the line with 62 balls to spare.
It means England will finish top of the group if West Indies beat South Africa in Group 2’s final fixture by a margin fewer than 52 runs. A South Africa win, taking them to six points, will see England finish second.
Jordan gets his moment
Chris Jordan did not expect to be at this World Cup. A back injury to Jamie Overton handed him what is probably one last shot on the biggest stage. Today in Barbados, he seized it with both hands with that hat-trick and overall figures of 4 for 10 that took him to 105 T20I wickets.
The crescendo of the hat-trick was dripping with emotion. Jordan is not exactly the biggest celebrator, but who could begrudge him this moment? The Bajan-born cricketer grew up watching plenty of cricket at the Kensington Oval before making the move to the UK on a scholarship to Dulwich College. The locals in the stadium cheered him as one of their own.
Jordan was actually at home in Barbados when he heard of his call-up to the provisional squad at the end of April. Later that day, he was training in the nets with Jofra Archer, who initially put the session live on Instagram before taking it down.
Having started in the XI for the washout against Scotland and loss to Australia – both in Bridgetown – Jordan returned for the final Group B match against Namibia before sitting back on the bench for the start of the Super Eights.
Even after this display, he may find himself sidelined once more if Buttler opts for Mark Wood’s extra pace, depending on England’s opponents and semi-final venue. Either way, Jordan’s place in history has been secured.
Rashid’s wrong ‘un so right
Like Lionel Messi shifting onto his left foot and Steph Curry pulling up from long range, everyone knows Adil Rashid has a googly. The problem with all three is doing something about it.
Aaron Jones and Nitish Kumar were both felled by the legspinner’s delivery that goes the other way. The former tried to combat it with his trusty slog sweep. The latter opted to blaze up and over extra cover. Both had their stumps rearranged.
That’s now five of Rashid’s nine wickets that have come from googlies at this World Cup. Their menace is disguised by full lengths and outside-off-stump lines, similar to where he looks to land his leggies.
Rashid has been England’s standout white-ball bowler for some time, and, aged 36, has been at his best throughout this tournament despite coming into the summer with little competitive cricket.
Here in Bridgetown, he was unplayable, with just 10 runs conceded from his four boundary-less overs. It was hard not to feel sorry for USA’s batting line-up as he tied them in knots. If it’s any comfort, more seasoned batters, with plenty more exposure to Rashid, have been made to look just as clueless.
Underwhelming Corey Anderson
It is as much a credit to the rest of the squad that their highest-profile cricketer coming into this tournament has been a footnote on a valiant campaign.
Anderson was averaging 13 coming into this final fixture. With six overs to go, he looked relatively set on 24, especially after breaking a boundary-less run of 34 deliveries in the previous by heaving Liam Livingstone for six over gully with a reverse-sweep. Now was his time to show why he was once one of the most sort-after allrounders on the circuit.
While there was a hurry-up, it came at the end other end as Harmeet Singh struck 21 in a 27-run stand between them, with a couple of fours and a six of his own.
Singh would fall at the end of the 18th over, leaving Anderson on strike for the penultimate over. Jordan bowled a full toss, and Anderson swung for the hills. Alas, he could only find Harry Brook, who did not have to move an inch from his position a good 10 yards in front of the sponge at long-on.
Off he walked for 29, his highest score of the competition, taking his overall tally to 66 from 72 deliveries. A tournament to remember for the USA is perhaps one to forget for Anderson.
Full report to follow…
Vithushan Ehantharajah is an associate editor at ESPNcricinfo
Source: ESPN Crickinfo