England’s T20 World Cup campaign is off to a flier after they skittled West Indies for just 55 en route to a dominant six-wicket victory in their Super 12 opener in Dubai.
The two sides had met in the final of the last tournament five years ago, when Carlos Brathwaite’s four successive sixes settled a thrilling, topsy-turvy encounter that went all the way to the final over.
The contrast could hardly have been more extreme as Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid tore through a sorry Windies batting lineup before England crushed home despite losing four top order wickets themselves, winning by six wickets with more than 11 overs to spare.
Moeen played a key part in England’s early breakthrough, first taking a superb catch off Chris Woakes’ bowling to remove opener Evin Lewis, and then picking up the wickets of Lendl Simmons and Shimron Hetmyer.
Tymal Mills, on his return to England action, then took the key wicket of Chris Gayle, who top-scored with 13 as the only West Indies batter to reach double figures and also picked up Nicholas Pooran before Rashid took centre-stage.
The spinner removed the dangerous Andre Russell for a duck with his very first ball and would go on to pick up four wickets for just two runs.
England lost four wickets at regular intervals during a routine chase, but Jos Buttler remained calm, striking 24 off 22 balls to see them home alongside captain Eoin Morgan after just 8.2 overs, a factor which could prove crucial should net-run-rate come into play later in the group stage.
