24 Oct 2021

Adominant England side began their ICC T20 World Cup 2021 campaign in the perfect way on Saturday as they crushed the defending champions West Indies to top Group 1 in the Super 12 stage.

The match was expected to be an exciting battle between the West Indies' flair and a capable England attack but it was reduced to a no-contest following a horrendous batting display from both teams.

England completed the 6-wicket triumph over of the Windies after bowling them out for 55, the third-lowest total in T20 World Cup history and second lowest in the format for WI, with Jos Buttler leading the way with the bat to bring an early end to the proceedings in Abu Dhabi.

West Indies tried their best to delay the inevitable by grabbing 4 English wickets in quick succession as batsmen from both sides continued to struggle on a slow and turning pitch at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

Obed McCoy bowled his heart out for the title holders, picking 2 wickets for 24 runs from his 4 overs in the powerplay but the total was just too low for West Indies to defend and pose any kind of threat to the Three Lions.

Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali flopped with the bat but England still managed to reach the paltry target in the xxth over to register their first-ever T20 World Cup win over the West Indies thanks to an outstanding performance from their bowlers, who justified captain Eoin Morgan's decision to field first at the toss.

Leg-spinner Adil Rashid was the standout bowler for England but it was Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali who started the damage with the wickets of Evin Lewis and Lendl Simmons respectively.

The two-time champions could never really recover from 9 for 2 and kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

West Indies were eventually bowled out for 55 in 14.2 overs with Adil Rashid finishing with his career-best T20I figures of 4 wickets for 2 runs from his 2.2 overs. Chris Gayle (13) was the only batter who got to the double digits.

Moeen Ali and Tymal Mills both grabbed a couple of wickets each while Woakes and Chris Jordan took one apeace to round off the perfect bowling performance from the 2010 champions.