Buttler puts England in control of T20I series

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):

England skipper Jos Buttler signalled his return from injury with a scintillating half-century, and another inept batting performance by the West Indies saw them slump to a second heavy defeat, this time by seven wickets in the second T20I here yesterday.

For the second successive match, the home side’s top order failed to fire, and they were limited to a below-par 158 for eight from their 20 overs.

Buttler, playing in only his second T20I after a four-month long layoff due to a calf injury, then hit a superb 83 from just 45 balls as England romped to 161 for three with 31 balls remaining.

The win gave England a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series and put them in prime position to hand the West Indies their first home T2o series loss since 2023.

Once again, the West Indies were outdone by an impressive display of fast bowling by Saqib Mahmood and Jofra Archer after losing the toss and being sent in to bat for the second straight day.

With the new pitch providing obvious assistance to the pacers, King’s extravagant drive off Mahmood’s second ball of the innings found a thick edge and ballooned in the air for Liam Livingstone to take a good catch running backwards at midoff to be out for one.

Archer had made life uneasy for Lewis with his sharp bounce and outswingers, and he eventually reaped the dividends when the batsman gloved a sharp, rising delivery behind to the wicketkeeper to leave the Windies 20 for two in the third over.

Roston Chase executed two glorious drives through the offside but then missed an inswinger from Mahmood and was adjudged leg before wicket for 13, with the review confirming the decision, as the West Indies lost their third wicket inside the power play to be 35 for three in the fourth over.

Nicholas Pooran and captain Rovman Powell tried to consolidate during a 35-run partnership for the fourth wicket that required seven overs.

But after struggling to 14 from 23 balls, Pooran was deceived in flight from a delivery by Livingstone as he advanced down the wicket and was stumped by Phil Salt.

Sherfane Rutherford once again fell to off-spin, this time missing an attempted sweep off Livingstone after scoring a solitary run as the West Indies slumped to 80 for five.

Powell played an uncharacteristically patient innings as he tried to stem the flow of wickets.

He showed signs of his power hitting by clobbering spinner Adil Rashid for a six and a four in the 15th over that went for 16 runs, but just as he was looking to accelerate, he was deceived by a faster delivery from spinner Dan Mousley and bowled for the top score of 43 from 41 balls.

Only Romario Shepherd, who stroked 22 from 12 balls, and Matthew Forde, who struck three fours in scoring an unbeaten 13 from six balls, were able to gather any real resistance thereafter, with Mahmood, Livingstone, and Mousley all taking two wickets apiece.

The West Indies reaped immediate success in the field when Saturday’s centurion, Phil Salt, was caught by a juggling Brandon King at extra cover off the first delivery of the innings bowled by spinner Akeal Hosein.

Their excitement was short-lived, however, as Buttler and Will Jacks effectively ended the contest with a 129-run partnership that required just 12 overs.

Buttler started slowly, scoring only three runs from his first 10 deliveries, but after hitting pacer Matthew Forde for successive boundaries in the fourth over, he hit the accelerator.

The third T20I is on Thursday in St Lucia.