A thumping win for England as they have started their T20 World Cup campaign in this year’s edition with a six-wicket victory over the defending champions West Indies, although the game was nowhere near to a repeat of the 2016 finale. The Men in Maroon did pick four wickets, three inside the powerplay, but the total of 55 was always chaseable for a team like England.
The English bowlers were persistent with their line and length and were rewarded as West Indies managed their second lowest T20 total after 45 which they made against the same opponents in 2019.
It was also the third lowest total in T20 World Cup behind 39 and 44 (both by Netherlands).
“There’s not a lot to explain – it was an unacceptable performance, but we do need to take this on the chin and move on. It’s a matter of finding our straps, we have to find a way to get a fighting total on the board, today was a day where we couldn’t find that balance, but we need to forget this and move on. This is an international sport, such days happen, but we need to find a solution,” said the losing captain Kieron Pollard.
“We have played a lot of T20 cricket around the world, this is something we have all experienced, you’ll have to accept such days. Each game is important, we still have four games in the tournament and we’ll have to look forward,” he added.
Here’s how Twitter reacted:
England putting a marker down today .. Hammering the champions is a perfect start .. btw .. these pitches are not what this tournament needs .. #T20WorldCup
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) October 23, 2021
Worst part about England putting in such a dominant performance is that I’ve no excuse not to go for a run… best part, it’s still light outside 😂😍
— Alexandra Hartley (@AlexHartley93) October 23, 2021
Like India had to do, and did so well, after the 36 all out, the West Indies need to forget this happened and remind themselves of their pedigree. T
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 23, 2021
West Indies poor start in World T20 opener.Adil Rashid awesome spell
— Danish Kaneria (@DanishKaneria61) October 23, 2021
England NRR +3.97!#T20WorldCup
— Mpumelelo Mbangwa (@mmbangwa) October 23, 2021
Big statement by 🏴 today.. #T20WorldCup #T20WorldCup2021
— Herschelle Gibbs (@hershybru) October 23, 2021
For all the superstars in the side, #WI’s inevitable comeback in this tournament will be led by the younger likes of Obed McCoy and Akeal Hosein with the ball, like we’ve seen tonight. You just know there will be bigger totals for them to defend later in this #T20WorldCup
— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) October 23, 2021
कुछ भी हो, सलामी तोप से ही देंगे!
#WestIndies #T20WorldCup— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) October 23, 2021
Decent win for England to kick their tournament off then. It’s always important to get off to a good start but even more so given how difficult this group is. Bangladesh next up on Wednesday #ENGvWI #T20WorldCup
— Rob Johnston (@RobJ_Cricket) October 23, 2021
🏴 ENGLAND WIN 🏴
A great start to our T20 World Cup campaign with a 6⃣ wicket win🙌#T20WorldCup #ENGvWI pic.twitter.com/hRMDfjGttJ
— England's Barmy Army 🏴🎺 (@TheBarmyArmy) October 23, 2021
Our bowlers today 🔥 #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/pag6o49ElX
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) October 23, 2021
Crazy!! 🤯 still don’t write West Indies off but England what a start! #ICCT20WorldCup https://t.co/3P9a79EydJ
— Isa Guha (@isaguha) October 23, 2021
An excellent bowling performance helps England get off to a flyer in their #T20WorldCup 2021 campaign 🙌#ENGvWI | https://t.co/bO59jyDrzE pic.twitter.com/5VaR7YL1uZ
— T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) October 23, 2021
