Phil Salt hits six boundaries in one over as England thrash West Indies at T20 World Cup

Phil Salt (right) and Jonny Bairstow celebrate the win - Getty Images/Alex Davidson

At the end of the 16th over of England’s run chase Phil Salt walked nonchalantly down the pitch and touched gloves with Jonny Bairstow.

It said little of the carnage he had just unloaded on the West Indies and won England a crucial match in this Twenty20 World Cup which opens up a path to the semi-finals.

Salt had just clobbered six boundaries in six balls – four, six, four, six, six, four – off Romario Shepherd and as the last slammed into the LED advertising boards, West Indian fans were streaming out of the ground to beat the traffic in the narrow local lanes.

Salt had killed the home team with six swings of his bat, incredible given he had not scored a boundary for 10 overs as he struggled against the spinners and been eclipsed by Bairstow, who can realistically lay claim to being the dominant partner in a stand of 97 off 44.

“That was great fun. To come here against a very strong side, riding the wave of momentum with home conditions and crowd, and play an innings like that is a great feeling,” said Salt.

“It did have that feeling of things coming together. It has been very stop-start for us. We had hiccup against Australia, rained out against Scotland. It has been a real topsy-turvy start and did not feel like we had played much cricket but in tournament cricket you need to build momentum and winning against the hosts gives us that first push in that direction.”

England beat the West Indies by eight wickets - AP/Ramon Espinosa

The 30 runs Salt took off Shepherd was the icing on a clinical England performance and a reminder why they are defending champions. The foundation was laid by an intelligent bowling performance that tied up the West Indies musclemen with 51 dot balls, restricting them to 180, and was followed by a run chase as smooth as the coffee brewed from St Lucian beans.

This was an England that was 46 minutes from going out as it rained against Namibia almost certainly ending coach Matthew Mott’s tenure,  but were now dictating to a West Indies side that had won eight in a row and hit 218 off Afghnaistan on the same pitch 48 hours earlier.

It all came together at last for Jos Buttler, who won the toss and decided to chase, picked his best XI with Mark Wood in for Chris Jordan and Sam Curran keeping his place ahead of Will Jacks.

Mark Wood pouches a catch to dismiss Rovman Powell after the West Indies captain had started to cause real damage - Getty Images/Chandan Khanna

Buttler rotated through his bowlers well, Adil Rashid called on all his experience to read the pitch and bowl four overs for just 21 in the middle over squeeze and Jofra Archer bowled the over of the match to dismiss Nicholas Pooran when he was well set.

In some ways it was a tale of two 16th overs: Pooran’s working over and Shepherd’s bloodbath.

The target of 181 suggested the pitch had slowed down since Monday night but not so. England made it look a good surface to bat on, cantering to victory with 15 balls remaining, winning by eight wickets. In T20 terms it was a hammering and is a decent run rate boost if the scramble for a semi-final place is tight.

Phil Salt fails to save a four during the match - GETTY IMAGES

Salt had threatened this. He had a strike rate of 176 coming into the match but had not stayed in. This time he saw the job through, sweating the difficult middle overs against the spinners and launching the seamers.

His 87 off 47 started with him seeing off West indies dangerous left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein in the powerplay and finishing it off with predator’s eye for a kill. He credited Bairstow for taking the pressure off him as he laboured against Roston Chase’s off spin and left-armer Gudakesh Motie in the middle overs.

Bairstow relished the chance, coming in at four and bristling. Within 21 balls he had 46 and was close to overtaking Salt, hitting five fours and two sixes, taking down the crucial last over bowled by Hosein. Bairstow hit him for 16 when he had bowled three in the powerplay for just 19. Hosein and fellow left-armer spinner, Motie, went wicketless for 67. Jos Buttler recognised the value of Bairstow’s intervention, calling it a “mature, senior player’s innings with a lot of power.”

Johnson Charles, who top scored for the West Indies with 38, set about England's bowlers in the opening overs

Salt too paid credit to Bairstow. “ Jonny came in and took the pressure off and took smart, calculated risks,” he said. “It was then about me batting through that period and waiting to strike. Seeing Shepherd coming back at that end, I just pulled the trigger.”

This was England’s best World Cup performance since they lifted the T20 trophy two years ago, far better than anything they dished up in India, although not a high bar to clear.

At the 50 over World Cup they were woeful against other top ranked teams losing six out of eight games to Test nations so this was always going to be the yardstick, not walkovers against associates.

“A lot of players say you learn when you lose but I believe you learn when you win as well,” said Buttler. “It’s important for us to reflect on what we did well today then focus on the next one.”

That is against South Africa here again on Friday, who walloped them in the 50 over World Cup.

The bowlers will at least have the confidence boost of this performance. They tamed the West Indies who just could not cut loose. Rovman Powell launched four sixes but little else, Johnson Charles sweated over 38 off 34 and Brandon King pulled up lame at the wrong time.

Their fate was sealed in the 16th over. At 137 for two, having just taken 20 off the previous over from Liam Livingstone and West Indies boasting a run rate of over 11 in the last four overs of the World Cup so far, Buttler summoned his crown jewel, Archer.

On strike was Pooran who walloped 98 against Afghanistan and was set with 32 from 26. Pooran connected properly with just one out of six balls, a four through the covers. The sixth ball was the killshot, an 87mph length delivery outside off that Pooran nicked off.

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