West Indies versus England: How 51 dots balls hurt one-dimensional West Indian batsmen

On this day, the West Indian batsmen paid the price for not having Plan B.

Fifty-one dot balls were wasted, and though West Indies scored 180 off just 69, at the end of the game captain Rovman Powell admitted: “You have to look at it from a batting perspective. We left 15-20 runs”. Powell was also unhappy with the team’s death bowling.

England’s smart bowling line-up, the standout bowlers being the spinners Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali and tearway quick Jofra Archer, quelled the threat of the one-dimensional big-hits approach of the West Indians.

England lost just two wickets with Phil Salt providing the pyrotechnics up with order with 87 off 47 and Johnny Bairstow at No.4 switching on the turbocharger, his unbeaten 48 came at a strike rate of nearly 185.

Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali put a choke on the run flow in the middle-overs and Jofra Archer made life difficult with raw pace, wider ones and short balls. His fellow pacer, Mark Wood was quick too making it hard for West Indian batsmen to connect cleanly by just clearing their front leg, using their arms and swing.

The top four of the West Indies all got starts. Brandon Kings 23 (retired hurt), Johnson Charles 38, Nicholas Pooran 36, Rovman Powell 36 but there were no statement innings. When West Indies raced to 54/0, a total of 200-plus was in sight. But even then there were already 18 dot balls.

Even Sam Curran used his cutters to good effect as they took the fuse out of West Indies’ electrifying batting line-up.

Going for sixes has been West Indies’ success formula over the years, one that made them the most feared batsmen in the format and won them two T20 World Cups. But against batting line-ups that stand on equal footing and well-rounded bowling teams clicking as a unit, they need to work the field to find boundaries outside their strong hitting zones.

England did one more thing, send a message to the rest of the teams that they have enough firepower to chase down totals on a good wicket even if a couple of big guns have a bad day.

It will do them good, if the West Indian batsmen go back to the drawing board and study what they could have done differently.

Opener Johnson Charles and No.3 Nicolas Pooran alone played 15 dot balls each. And against both, England’s plan was simple. To hurry them with pace as back of the length deliveries were hard to dispatch as Archer and Mark Wood clocked between 145-151kmph. Rashid, meanwhile, resorted to what he knows best: vary the trajectory, pace and use the variations to keep them guessing.

As Charles perished off Moeen Ali’s bowling, and West Indies only going at 8.5 runs an over, Powell promoted himself to No 4. In the 17 balls he stayed in, he scored 36, which included five sixes and his dismissal would start about the most significant passage of play.

England’s Phil Salt bats during the men’s T20 World Cup match against the West Indies at the Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in Gros Islet, St Lucia. (AP Photo)

In the space of 12 deliveries, West Indies lost the wickets of Powell, Pooran and Andre Russell. From 137/1 they collapsed to 143/4 as England took the total grip of the West Indies innings. And off those six deliveries, the one over from Archer to Pooran proved to be the pick of the lot.

All through the over, Archer bowled full and outside off as Pooran struggled to get elevation or power behind. He managed a boundary off the third, but one could see that line troubling the left-hander. And off the final ball, as he once again went hard, he only nicked it to Jos Buttler. In the next over, Rashid had Andre Russell. From there on Sherfane Rutherford and Romaria Shepherd did well to take them to 180.

For West Indies to stay in the game, they needed left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein to strike early in the powerplay. But Salt and Buttler thwarted those hopes to give the start that England needed. Even though the England captain struggled for fluency, the in-form Salt led their charge as they put on a 67-run stand for the first wicket. Though Moeen departed for 10, Jonny Bairstow provided the much needed muscle at No 4. When Bairstow walked in the 11th over, England were still 97 runs away. But Salt and Bairstow hit the fifth gear immediately to put pressure on the Windies attack as they knocked off the remaining runs in the next 44 deliveries.