Key events
England reach 250 for the first time in a T20
19th over: England 250-3 (Livingstone 41, Brook 3) And in comes … Harry Brook! Who made 31 off seven balls the other day. He gets off to a relatively sedate start here, with a single off a leading edge and a more convincing effort for two. That takes England to 250 for the first time ever in this format. In the 1960s, they didn’t always manage that in a day.
PHIL SALT HAS BEEN DISMISSED!
Salt b Russell 119 (England 246-3) What the hell? Salt misses a straight one – a full toss from Dre Russ, delivered from round the wicket, which threatens to bore a hole in the batsman, never mind the stumps. He departs for a magnificent 119 off 57 balls. After that 109 not out on Saturday, he may well have played the best pair of back-to back innings in T20 international history.
18th over: England 238-2 (Salt 119, Livingstone 37) This over is in fact good in parts. Forde did start with a wide and then give Livingstone a couple of freebies, but then he keeps calm and carries on trying to bowl yorkers. The last three balls go one, dot, dot. A triumph!
Another three sixes in a row
17.3 overs: England 237-2 (Salt 119, Livingstone 36) We interrupt this over to inform you that Liam Livingstone, facing Matthew Forde, has just gone six, six, six.
Career best for Salt!
17th over: England 218-2 (Salt 119, Livingstone 18) Powell decides he may as well bowl Motie out. The over goes for 14, with Salt providing the punchline – a swing for six over midwicket, which brings up a half-century for Motie. He trickles away with figures of 4-0-55-0, and Salt has a new career best, beating the 109 he made on Saturday. He may never be out again.
16th over: England 204-2 (Salt 107, Livingstone 16) Liam Livingstone seems to feel that that Salt deserves a breather. Facing Holder, he plays a cut for four and a hook for six (not middled, but safe as there’s no fine leg out). Salt, duly refreshed, hits a pull for six over long-on. Normal carnage has resumed.
15th over: England 183-2 (Salt 100, Livingstone 3) Powell seized the chance to bring back Motie, but his first ball was a long hop, easily pulled for four by Salt, and after that England milked him for singles, making it easy for Salt to go from 99 to 100. As he did so, he let out a howl of furious delight.
HUNDRED TO PHIL SALT!
Another one! Hundreds are extremely rare in T20 cricket, and he’s made two in four days. This one has come off 48 deliveries. It’s quite staggering stuff. Are IPL owners allowed to change their minds?
14th over: England 175-2 (Salt 94, Livingstone 1) Hosein earned that wicket, not only by deceiving Jacks, but by forcing the plug in just before that. His over ends up costing three, a small miracle of thrift. But what a knock by Jacks: after making only one run off six balls on Saturday, he blazed 24 off nine today.
WICKET! Jacks LBW b Hosein 24 (England 173-2)
Jacks goes for a big sweep and misses. It looks plumb and a review doesn’t save him.
Fifty partnership off 19 balls!
13th over: England 172-1 (Salt 92, Jacks 24) Two dots, but also two sixes. One to Salt over midwicket, one to Jacks over extra-cover, and now they’ve added 55 off 19 balls. The dots were good though: one ball angled in at the pads, which Salt missed; the next an impeccable yorker. The run rate stays at 13.
Two dot balls in a row!
Dre Russ, we salute you.
12th over: England 158-1 (Salt 85, Jacks 17) Hosein returns for a third over and may wish he hadn’t as Jacks tucks in. A reverse sweep for four, thanks to a misfield from Motie, is followed by another one for six. Sixteen off the over, and this partnership has already raced to 41 off 13 balls. Current run rate: 13.
11th over: England 142-1 (Salt 80, Jacks 6) The other day in Grenada Will Jacks walked into a party like this and couldn’t think of anything to say. He managed just one run off six balls, but he seems to have learnt from that chastening experience. He does better than that now with his first ball, flicking the last ball of Holder’s over for two, and then cutting a four off Sherfane Rutherford. It may help that, in between, Salt hits Rutherford for three successive sixes, all on the leg side. That’s the most expensive over of the innings, which is saying something: 23 off it.
Drinks: England rocking
9.5 overs: England 117-1 (Salt 61) England have had three partnerships of 75 or more in this series, and they’ve all been made by Messrs Buttler and Salt. That one was the biggest of the lot, just beating their 115 in Grenada on Saturday.
WICKET! Buttler c Powell b Holder 55 (England 117-1)
The breakthrough at last. Buttler goes high and straight again, but he doesn’t get hold of it and gives a comfortable catch to Powell, his opposite number and soon-to-be team-mate at Rajasthan Royals.
Fifty to Buttler! And the hundred partnership!!
9th over: England 112-0 (Salt 59, Buttler 52) The carnage continues. Three sixes in this over from Gudakesh Motie: Salt swings one to leg, Buttler chips one over cover, Buttler hits another one straight.
Before the brace of sixes, Buttler reverse-swept a two to bring up the hundred. And now he has fifty too, off 26 balls … That’s 21 off the over. I can’t keep up!
8th over: England 91-0 (Salt 52, Buttler 38) Eleven off that over, which is merely the going rate in this innings. These two are doing something very difficult and making it look so easy.
Fifty to Phil Salt!
Salt blasts Andre Russell for four, then dabs him for four more to reach another fifty. This one has come off only 23 balls, with five fours and three sixes. He has now made 159 since he was last out.
7th over: England 80-0 (Salt 42, Buttler 37) Powell makes yet another bowling change, bringing on Gudakesh Motie. Like a few bowlers this afternoon, he bowls a decent half-over and then gets carted. Buttler pulls out the leg glance and the reverse sweep again. if only he could have done this at the World Cup.
6th over: England 68-0 (Salt 39, Buttler 28) Rovman Powell turns to his fourth bowler, Jason Holder. It helps a bit: his over goes for just ten, but Salt still rounds off the Powerplay with a lofted off drive, played on the up, a lovely blend of strength and touch. If anyone in India is still awake to see this, they may be kicking themselves for not snapping him up.
5th over: England 58-0 (Salt 31, Buttler 27) Back comes Forde, but he can’t stop the flow of runs – because he goes leg-stump-ish when he doesn’t have a fine leg. Buttler glances for four, Salt shovels four more, and then Salt goes berserk with successive sixes – a pull and a straight drive. That’s 22 off the over and the first six brought up the fifty off just 29 balls. Poor old Forde, after two overs in this format, has career figures of none for 34.
4th over: England 36-0 (Salt 14, Buttler 22) Hosein, who has bagged Buttler twice in this series, nearly completes the hat-trick as a mistimed chip goes perilously close to the man diving to his left at extra-cover. Instead it goes for four, and then Buttler cashes in ruthlessly – six with a reverse sweep, four with an orthodox one. As David Gower notes, the second one was set up by “a dummy shimmy”. Not a phrase you’ll find in the MCC Coaching Book.
3rd over: England 21-0 (Salt 13, Buttler 8) Hang on! We were told that Kyle Mayers had been left out, but here he is coming on to bowl. Rumours of Johnson Charles’s elevation may have been exaggerated – sorry about that. Mayers starts tidily too with his military medium, before Buttler lofts him over mid-off for his first four. As Brandon King goes off the field with an injury of some kind, the camera home in on two drummers drumming.
2nd over: England 14-0 (Salt 12, Buttler 2) At the other end it’s spin from Akeal Hosein. He struggled in the last game but starts well here, with three dots to Buttler, cramping him for room. Buttler steps away to leg and works a single into the off side. Salt flicks one to square leg, and then Buttler can only push a thick edge for no run, so that’s an excellent over from Hosein, just two from it. Advantage nobody!
1st over: England 12-0 (Salt 11, Buttler 1) Forde finds some swing right away, back into these two right-handers. Phil Salt takes a single first ball, Jos Buttler follows suit off two balls later, and after four balls Forde has gone for only two. Then Salt goes big! Down the track, six over mid-off. And the same again, but all along the ground. Advantage England.
It looks as if we’ll be starting on time. Matthew Forde, a T20 international debutant, has just received his cap and now he has the new ball too.
The word from the ground
Our man on the spot in Trinidad is Simon Burnton, who sent this before the teams were announced. “The covers are on as I type,” he wrote. “They dragged them on five minutes ago, though as far as I can tell it isn’t and hasn’t been raining. Word is two changes to the England team today, and I expect Chris Woakes and Rehan Ahmed to come back in.” The Guardian’s finger, forever on the pulse.
“A few weeks ago,” Simon went on, “there was talk of Trinidadians boycotting this match in protest against Darren Bravo being left out of the ODI squad, and perceived bias against Trinidadians among the West Indies selectors, so it’ll be interesting to see what kind of crowd turns up. Oh, and the covers are coming back off!” Phew.
Teams in brief: two changes apiece
West Indies make two like-for-like changes, bringing in Johnson Charles for Kyle Mayers at the top of the order, and Matthew Forde for Alzarri Joseph among the seamers.
England bring back Chris Woakes and Rehan Ahmed in place of Tymal Mills and Gus Atkinson, so they will have more spinners – possibly five of them, with the two leggies, Ahmed and Rashid, joined by two offies (Moeen and Jacks) and one mixture of the two (Livingstone).
Toss: West Indies opt to chase
The toss is hosted by Samuel Badree. Jos Buttler calls heads, but it’s tails.
“I think you know what we’re going to do, Badree,” says Rovman Powell with a smile. “Bowl first.”
Buttler says he would have done that too.
Preamble
Evening everyone and welcome to the latest episode of a prime-time drama. It may not be as close as England’s thrilling win in Grenada on Saturday, but there’s just as much riding on it.
Lose in Trinidad tonight and England will have lost this series as well as the ODI one, so there will be no arguing that they were a match for the resurgent West Indies. Win it, however, and the T20 series will be beautifully poised at 2-2. The momentum will be with England, who should then have a good chance of pulling off one of these.
In this absorbing five-setter, the role of Andy Murray is being played by Phil Salt. He may not have an England contract, he may not have an IPL contract, but he’s been the player of this series so far. He has 174 runs, which is 50 more than the next man (Rovman Powell) and a few more than the next two Englishmen combined (Jos Buttler has 95, Liam Livingstone 74). In a region that prides itself on its ability to clear the rope, Salt also has the most sixes in the series (11, one more than Powell). And he hit nine of them while visibly wilting in the heat.
Among the bowlers, the star has been another IPL reject, Adil Rashid, with six wickets for 68 off his 12 overs. His enduring excellence has made sure that England have been the better side at spin (11 wickets at an average of 23, as against their hosts’ five at 28). But West Indies have won the battle of the seamers by a street, taking 15 wickets at 28 compared to England’s eight at 38.
Today’s game, at the Brian Lara Academy in Tarouba, starts at 4pm rather than lunchtime, but the sun should still be blazing down. According to the forecast, it will be 31 degrees at the start of play and 27 by the end. The toss is at 3.30 local time, 7.30pm GMT, so I’ll be back soon after that with the teams.
