Key events
10th over: England 135-1 (Duckett 62, Buttler 13) Alzarri Joseph returns, he’s full and wide or short and at the body. Good recovery in the first half of the over. Can he get out of it without too much damage? Nope. Buttler flicks off his pads for SIX behind square. That ball was timed to within an inch of its life. What even was that? Buttler plays some sort of pirouetting scoop to get four over the wicketkeeper. It’s a no look mid-air scoop shot. Simple.
England take drinks at 135-1 – that’s their highest ten over total in T20Is. Here’s the list we’re all interested in, particularly you, Matthew Doherty.
9th over: England 121-1 (Duckett 60, Buttler 1) ‘Only me!’ Jos Buttler strolls out with purpose with England 120-1 in the ninth over. Gulp. He gets off the mark with a single down the ground and will keep strike.
WICKET! Jamie Smith c Hetmyer b Motie 60 (England 120-1)
The run rate is just under 14 an over. Motie quietens things down and then gets Smith! Caught in the deep by the aforementioned Hetmyer. My days, West Indies needed that.
8th over: England 113-0 (Duckett 60, Smith 53) Jamie Smith channels his inner Babe Ruth and baseball swats Romario Shepherd for SIX over midwicket! The bowler finds his yorker next ball for a dot but Smith pounces on length and deposits for SIX once more down the ground. That’s a first T20I fifty for Smith, brought up in some style. SIX MORE! Oh em gee. That is massive! Smith goes biiiiiig over extra cover for SIX more, the third of the over.
Salt, meet Wound. Smith is then shelled by Hetmyer off the final ball, lacerating through the covers, the ball bursts through the fielders and hands and plops onto the turf.
7th over: England 92-0 (Duckett 52, Smith 40) Smith trots down and launches the spin of Gudakesh Motie for SIX over the leg side. It is a calmer though, nine runs off it.
6th over: England 86-0 (Duckett 50, Smith 33) Holder returns and Smith drives handsomely for four. A single down the ground brings a moment of respite but it is only a moment as Duckett carves for four next ball. Holder spears in a decent yorker for a lesser spotted dot ball. Duckett gives himself room by backing into the leg-side and upper cuts for four. Duckett keeps strike with a single off the last ball and it takes him to Fifty off just 20 balls. He’s hit ten fours!
A blistering powerplay from England. Will the end of the fielding restrictions bring some respite for West Indies? I think you and I both know the answer to that particular question.
5th over: England 69-0 (Duckett 41, Smith 28) The rampage continues from England’s opening pair. Duckett slaps Alzarri Joseph for a flat SIX on the pull and then cover drives for four more. Cheeky! Duckett reverse-scoops over the keeper for another boundary. Carnage! Joseph ducks for cover as Duckett slaps a length ball back past him and it nearly cleans the bowler up. Wise move Alzarri, not the face – you’ve got a corporate for Allied Dunbar. Another 18 runs plundered for England.
4th over: England 51-0 (Duckett 23, Smith 28) Romario Shepherd replaces Holder. His first ball is bludgeoned by Smith down the ground but Holder swoops down and plucks it off the turf. Not even Holder’s lissom limbs can reach the next couple of shots from Jamie Smith – a pull into the leg side for four and a lofted SIX down the ground. Shepherd feeling the pressure, he takes the pace off and is still clubbed for four by Smith. This pitch looks a belter and is playing like the M1. Eighteen runs off the over and fifty up for England in four overs.
3rd over: England 33-0 (Duckett 22, Smith 11) A drag down from Hosein is slapped to the square boundary by Duckett. Don’t bowl there, son. Duckett plinks down the ground for a couple, losing his shape slightly as he tries to go down the ground. SIXAH! The pint sized opener smears a big one on the sweep behind square. Four more down the ground all along the baize. Shai Hope can’t plug the gaps and Duckett is manipulating the field with aplomb. Seventeen runs off the over.
2nd over: England 15-0 (Duckett 6, Smith 9) Jason Holder with the second over, long limbs chugging into the crease and decent bounce off the custard cream coloured surface. Shot! Smith drives on the up over mid-on with that deliciously clean swing of the blade. Sizeable outfield in at the Utilita (as no one calls it) boundaries harder to find than at postage stamp sized Bristol.
1st over: England 7-0 (Duckett 5, Smith 2) Akeal Hosein starts for West Indies. His jet lag should be vanquished by now, he landed on the morning of the last game. Starts with a quiet five balls for just three runs but Duckett gets down and pings the last ball on the reverse-sweep for four.
Here come the players, Jamie Smith and Ben Duckett to open up for England. Let’s play!
We’ll be underway in less than ten minutes. Just enough time to dig into Don McRae’s wide reaching interview with Pat Cummins on the eve of the WTC Final. Some topics were still off-limits though…
But the ball-tampering saga remains an awkward topic. He listens quietly while I tell him about my 2021 interview with Cameron Bancroft who, as a callow opening batter trying to find his way in Test cricket, followed instructions to use sandpaper to rough up the ball. His captain, Steve Smith, David Warner and Bancroft were banned and the batter, when pressed on whether any of the bowlers had known of the plan, told me that “it’s probably self-explanatory”.
Cummins took seven wickets in that Test, which Australia lost heavily, and I ask if he really had no idea what was being done to the ball. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he says bluntly.”
England bat very deep and will be looking to get a big total on the board, especially with their opponents swapping out a bowler in Roston Chase. The visitors will need early wickets otherwise it could be a long couple of hours of chasing and fetching leather as the sun goes down in Southampton.
ICYMI – West Indies’ leading run scorer and most capped T20I player announced his retirement from international cricket today at the age of just 29. He’s a huge name to turn his back on playing for his country and they’ll miss his runs and experience with a T20I world cup looming. The reasons and ramifications will be much discussed.
Teams – England are unchanged. West Indies bring in Shimron Hetmyer for Roston Chase.
England: Jamie Smith, Ben Duckett, Jos Buttler (wk), Harry Brook (capt), Tom Banton, Jacob Bethell, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Brydon Carse, Adil Rashid, Matthew Potts
West Indies: Johnson Charles, Evin Lewis, Shai Hope (c & wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Gudakesh Motie, Alzarri Joseph
West Indies win the toss and choose to bowl
Shai Hope calls the coin correctly and inserts England. A lovely summer’s evening down in Hampshire and this time it is West Indies who fancy a chase.
“We want to start nailing teams down into the ground” says an uncompromising Harry Brook after the toss. I take it all back, that doesn’t sound particularly lyrical. Certainly not the stuff of a poetical love song.
Preamble
“Invoice me for the microphone later”…
Anyone else think Harry Brook has got a touch of the Alex Turners about him? The Yorkshire drawl, the swagger, the confidence in his own talent, the feeling that perhaps he could come to define a generation?
The white ball results have been something of a ‘Harrystorm’ since Brook took over, with England five from five across ODIs and T20Is, Brook ‘n’ his merry men have been going hell for leather and getting funky in the process.
“We fancy a chase” Brook said with that rock and roll eh languid confidence after the toss in Bristol and he got what he wished for – West Indies racked up 196 runs in their twenty overs.
No mither, Brook’s boys made short shrift of the visitor’s total, Buttler, Bethell and Banton catching the eye and sending Shai Hope and his team from the ritz to the rubble.
Hello and welcome to the third and final T20 match of the series from Southampton. Play gets underway at 6.30pm and a win today will complete the clean sweep for England.
Don’t believe the hype?
