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Phil Salt’s century, Saqib Mahmood’s four, power England to eight-wicket win

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Phil Salt made his third T20I hundred, all of them in the Caribbean [Cricinfo]

A superb unbeaten century by Phil Salt led England to a convincing eight-wicket victory over West Indies for a 1-0 lead in their five-match T20I series in Barbados.

Saqib Mahmood took career-best figures of 4 for 34, including three wickets in the powerplay and a tight over at the death, but in the meantime West Indies blitzed their way through three key partnerships to set England a lofty target, despite having lurched to 117 for 8.

Nicholas Pooran who top-scored for the hosts, and captain Rovman Powell put on 41 runs together from just 17 balls but it was Pooran and Andre Rusell who defied a steady flow of wickets to add 39 from 26 and then tailenders Gudakesh Motie  and Romairo Shepherd with 49 off 26 who pumped up the hosts.

Their efforts were ultimately futile, however, in the face of Salt’s remarkable 103 not out off just 54 balls in which he attacked from the outset, helping himself to 22 runs off one Shamar Joseph over and never looked back.

It was a case of two second-home lads doing good as Salt, who spent six of his pre-teen and teenage years living in Barbados, shared an unbroken 107-run stand with Jacob Bethell,  the latter raising his maiden T20I fifty to enthusiastic support from the crowd, having been born and raised in Barbados up to the age of 13.

When Salt struck five consecutive boundaries off Joseph to take his side past the 50-mark in the fourth over of the run-chase, England looked all business. He brought up his own half-century off 25 balls with the second of three sixes to come off Motie’s first over, crunched over deep midwicket before Will Jacks launched the third over long-on. Jacks fell on the next ball, bowled middle stump attempting to sweep, but by that time England had closed out the powerplay at 73 for 1, compared to West Indies’ 58 for 3. Motie couldn’t stay away from the action, his brilliant one-handed take at third removing Jos Buttler, batting at No. 3 on his return to action after a five-month injury lay-off, for a first-ball duck.

For all his big hitting, Salt’s deft punch for four just behind backward point off Joseph in the ninth over was prettier than any of his four sixes up to that moment and highlighted the range of shots which comprised his innings. Bethell mimicked the shot, slightly finer off Shepherd, as he settled into just his third innings in T20Is, playing the perfect supporting role to Salt, his unbeaten 58 coming off 36 balls and including an elegant six over cover off the penultimate ball.

He followed that immediately with the winning runs, pulling Shepherd for two to seal victory with 3.1 overs to spare. Salt had moved into the nineties swinging Shepherd to square leg, where the ball shot through the fingertips of Sherfane Rutherford as he tumbled over the boundary for six more before he brought up his ton in what turned out to be the last over of the game with four down the ground. It was Salt’s third century in T20Is, all of them coming in the Caribbean against West Indies.

Mahmood struck early when Brandon King, a centurion as West Indies won the third and final ODI for a 2-1 series win, slammed his fifth ball – the 11th of the match – straight to short cover. In his next over, Mahmood had two wickets in as many balls as Bethell took an excellent low catch running in from the rope at deep backward square to remove Evin Lewis and then luring Shimron Hetmyer with a superb length ball that moved away ever so slightly as it took an edge through to Salt. It was quite the comeback from Mahmood, playing just his third T20I since January 2022 after suffering two stress fractures in his back. His two other matches in the format since had yielded 2 for 21 and no wicket for 37 against Australia in September, but now he had 3 for 12 from two overs.

Meanwhile fellow seamer Reece Topley conceded 20 runs from 15 balls, including Powell’s nurdled four through deep third then six over square leg immediately before Topley slipped in his follow-through clutching his right knee. Topley was visibly limping as a brief rain shower arrived, sending the players from the field for just over half an hour. Topley returned after the stoppage, only to be greeted by a lofted drive for six by Powell and that was enough to send the bowler from the field for the rest of the innings with what was later confirmed as a jarred knee as Jamie Overton finished his third over. Mahmood returned to have his figures blighted by conceding 18 runs off his third over, Pooran heaving over the fence at wide long-on, threading four through deep backward point and swinging over deep midwicket for another six.

Adil Rashid entered the attack in the seventh over and struck with his second ball, Powell going big again but unable to clear a leaping Overton just inside the boundary at long-on. Although he had handed the wicketkeeping gloves to Salt, returning captain Buttler sprung with the reflexes of a cat to snare a brilliant one-handed catch at slip in Rashid’s next over to remove Rutherford. Pooran and Russell forged a defiant partnership, Russell slamming back-to-back sixes off Rashid and moving to a 16-ball 30. But Liam Livingstone managed to end their union when he responded to seeing his third ball deposited back over his head for six by having Russell caught at deep cover by Dan Mousley. Pooran followed for 38, falling to another spectacular catch by Buttler, launching himself high and twisting in the air in the covers off Overton.

West Indies looked determined to go down blazing. Rashid claimed his third when he pinned Akeal Hosein at the second attempt with an excellent leg-break. But just as it looked like the hosts’ fightback might fizzle, Motie strode to the crease at No. 10 and struck 16 runs off the first three balls he faced, including back-to-back sixes off Rashid. He had raced to 33 off just 14 balls by the time Mahmood had him caught on the deep midwicket boundary to claim his fourth wicket of the match. It ended Motie’s ninth-wicket stand with Shepherd, who ended with an unbeaten 35 off 22, their union helping West Indies to a total which had seemed so unlikely earlier.

Brief scores:
England 183 for 2 in 16.5 overs (Phil Salt 103*, Jacob Bethell 58*; Gudakesh Motie 1-45, Romario Shepherd 1-45) beat West Indies 182 for 9 in 20 overs (Nicholas Pooran 38, Andre Rusell 30, Romario Shepherd 35*, Gudakesh Motie 33; Saqib Mahmood 4-34, Jamie Overton 1-27, Adil Rashid 3-32, Liam Livingstone 1-21 ) by eight wickets

[Cricinfo]



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Al-Assad is in Moscow – Russian state media

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Bashar al-Assad [pic Aljazeera]

Russian state media reports that ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is in Moscow and has been granted asylum after the Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier that he stepped down and left the country.

[Aljazeera]

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Ukrainian war dead reaches 43,000, Zelensky says in rare update

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Some 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since Russia’s full-scale invasion began, Volodymyr Zelensky has said in a rare admission of the extent of the nation’s casualties.

In a post on social media, the Ukrainian president said 370,000 others had been injured, though this figure included soldiers who had been hurt more than once.

He also claimed that 198,000 Russian soldiers had been killed and a further 550,000 wounded.

The BBC has not been able to verify either side’s figures.

While both Kyiv and Moscow have regularly published estimates of the other side’s losses, they have been reluctant to detail their own.

[BBC]

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Emon, Hakim three-fors help Bangladesh defend U-19 title

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Iqbal Hossain Emon picked three wickets to push India U-19 on the back foot [ACC]

Iqbal Hossain Emon and Azizul Hakim bagged three wickets apiece as Bangladesh defended their Under-19 Asia Cup title with a comfortable 59-run win against India in Dubai.

Chasing 199, India were bowled out for 139 in 35.2 overs, completing a horror Sunday that also saw the men’s Test and women’s ODI sides suffer big defeats.

Electing to field, fast bowler Yudhajit Guha cleaned up Bangladesh opener Kalam Siddiki relatively early for 1. Zawad Abrar struck two fours and a six in his 20 but fell to Chetan Sharma caught behind. Guha then struck again getting rid of captain Azizul Hakim with Bangladesh slipping to 66 for 3 in the 19th over.

Mohammad Shihab James and Rizan Hossan then stitched a 62-run stand for the fourth wicket to resurrect the Bangladesh innings, but wickets in quick succession wrested any momentum they had built.

James departed first on 40 dismissed by Ayush Mhatre in the 32nd over before Debasish Deba fell eight balls later to KP Karthikeya. Raj then bowled Hossan for 47 while Samiun Basir and Al Fahad fell in the space of an over as Bangladesh slipped from 128 for 3 in the 32nd over to 167 for 8 in the 42nd.

Wicketkeeper-batter Farid Hasan and Maruf Mridha added a crucial 30-run stand for the ninth wicket before Bangladesh were all out for 198 in the last over.

India, however, failed to get going in their chase from the outset. Mhatre departed in the second over bowled by Fahad while 13-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi fell in the fifth after hitting two fours. When C Andre Siddharth became Hossan’s first victim, India found themselves struggling at 44 for 3 in the 12th over.

Captain Mohamed Amaan and Karthikeya added a brief 29-run stand for the fourth wicket, but soon Emon ushered a collapse and there was no way back for India. The medium pacer first had Karthikeya caught behind for 21 before striking two balls later to send back Nikhil Kumar for a duck. In his next over, he removed Harvansh Pangalia as India were reduced to 81 for 6 in the 23rd over.

That became 92 for 7 when Fahad removed Kiran Chormale giving ‘keeper Farid his fourth catch of the innings. Amaan and Raj tried to delay the inevitable but once Hakim removed his opposite number in the 32nd over, the game was as good as done.

Hakim picked the last three wickets to spark jubilant scenes in the Bangladesh camp.

Brief score:
Bangladesh U-19 198 in 49.1 overs  (Rizan Hossan 47, Mohamed Shihab James 40, Farid Hasan 39;  Yudhajit Guha 2-29, Hardik Raj 2-41, Chetan Sharmq 2-48,  ) beatIndia U-19 139 in 35.2 overs (Mohamed Amaan 26, Hardik Raj 24; Al Fahad 2-24, Azizul Hakim 3-8, Iqbal Hossain Emon 3-24) by 59 runs

[Cricinfo]

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