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T20 World Cup: Skipper Jos Buttler’s unbeaten innings of 83 cruises England to semi-finals
It was a big heartbreak for the US playing its first-ever T20 World Cup.
A Chris Jordan hat-trick combined with Adil Rashid's fabulous spell restricted USA to 115 in Barbados. / X/@T20WorldCup
Led by skipper Jos Buttler’s explosive unbeaten innings of 83 and his 117-run unbeaten opening wicket partnership with Phil Salt helped England cruise into the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup on June.23.
Earlier, English bowlers in an unprecedented spell of death bowling claimed the last five US wickets without conceding a run. Chris Jordan (4/10) (including a hat-trick) from 2.5 overs devastated the US innings.
It was a big heartbreak for the US playing its first-ever T20 World Cup as it lost all its three Super 8 matches. It suffered a humiliating 10-wicket defeat at the hands of defending champions England. It was the third straight loss in as many matches for the US. Sitting pretty at 115 for five at one stage, it slumped to 115 all out with Chris Jordan claiming four wickets in five balls, including a hat-trick.
The English notched up the winning target with 62 balls to spare.
USA started well hoping to put up a fighting total. After wicketkeeper-batsman and one of the reliable US batters, Andries Gous went out for 8 to Reece Tripley in the opening over with the score reading 9, the co-hosts heaved a sigh of relief, though temporarily, with Nitish Kumar and Steven Taylor putting up 34 runs for the second wicket. Sam Curran usurped Steven Taylor for 12: Skipper Aaron Jones, the major scorer for the US in this marquee event. However, he left without contributing much to the team’s aggregate.
Aaron Jones fell to Aadil Rashid for 10 made from 16 balls. Nitish was the highest scorer for the US. He made 30 from 24 balls with four and two sixes. Corey Anderson was the next with an individual contribution of 29 while Harmeet Singh once again chipped in well with the bat, scoring 21 from 17 balls with two boundaries and a six.
England, needing a win desperately to move to the last four stages, forced its way back into the game in the death overs by creating a record of sorts, claiming the last five wickets without conceding a run. It started with the dismissal of Harmeet Singh (21) who fell to the last ball of Sam Curran’s second over.
And the next over by Chris Jordan saw Corey Anderson depart for 29. A ball later, it was the turn of Ali Khan to go back and Nosthush Kenjige and Saurabh Netravalkar were the next victims of the walk-in and walk-out procession as the US innings folded up at 115 in 18.5 overs.
Chasing an easily attainable target of 116, English batters put the US bowlers on a leather hunt hitting at will to amass the required runs by consuming less than the permitted 20 overs. England scored the necessary runs without losing a wicket and with 62 balls to spare in one of the one-sided games of the Super 8 round. It came as a major heartbreak for the team that started with a shock win over Pakistan in the group matches.
Jos Buttler’s unbeaten 83 was studded with six hits to the boundary and seven sixes while Phil Salt in his 21-ball stay at the wicket hit two boundaries. Incidentally, it was the second-century opening wicket partnership in Super 8 matches. On June.22, Afghanistan recorded the first with Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran putting up 118 for the opening wicket against Australia.
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