SALT SPRINKLES HIS CARIBBEAN SPICE ON RESOUNDING VICTORY OVER WINDIES

Phil Salt’s love affair with the Caribbean continued on Wednesday evening with the Pretoria Capitals ace powering England to a clinical eight-wicket victory over co-hosts West Indies in their ICC Men's T20 World Cup Super Eight clash in St Lucia.

Salt smashed consecutive T20I centuries in the Caribbean last year. He was enroute to a third, but had to settle for a riveting 87 not out (47 balls, 7x4, 5x6) as the defending champions cruised past the Windies’ 180/4 with 15 balls to spare.

Capitals fans have become accustomed to watching Salt’s power electrify Centurion over the past two Betway SA20 seasons and they would have been equally thrilled to see the right-hander showcase it at the Daren Sammy Stadium - named after current West Indies coach and Betway SA20 Season 1 commentator.

Salt kept his most severe punishment for Romario Shepherd with the Joburg Super Kings all-rounder being smashed for three sixes and three fours in the 16th over to close off the match as a contest.

Shepherd’s 30-run over was the joint-most conceded by a West Indian bowler in a Men's T20 World Cup match.

England's run-chase was set up by a composed 67-run opening stand by Salt and Paarl Royals superstar Jos Buttler (25 off 22).

Joburg Super Kings all-rounder Moeen Ali was promoted to No 3, and while the experiment was not a resounding success, Moeen was able to strike a couple of boundaries in his 13 off nine balls to maintain the momentum.

This brought Jonny Bairstow to the crease and from hereon there was no looking back for England with Bairstow (48* off 26 balls) and Salt sharing a match-winning unbroken stand of 97 off just 44 balls for the third wicket.

“I like batting here, but I'm more happy to have contributed to a good team win,” Salt said.

“It was tough against spin in the middle overs, but I knew pace would come at some stage, the wind was blowing at one end, there was one short boundary and I backed myself to take on him (on his 30-run over against Shephard).

“There was a period where I didn't face too many balls, the boundaries had dried up, but Jonny (Bairstow) took the pressure off me with his calculated hitting, his knock was very crucial.”

It had all looked so different earlier in the day when the Windies had raced out of the starting blocks through opener Brandon King.

Unfortunately for the Windies, and the local fans that had streamed into the Daren Sammy Stadium, King pulled up with a thigh muscle injury and had to retire hurt on 23 off 13 balls (3x4, 1x6).

Local boy Johnson Charles, who also has a stand named after him at this ground, along with the normally explosive Nicholas Pooran tried to maintain the momentum, but they were kept in check by another Pretoria Capitals star Adil Rashid.

The leg-spinner was miserly on the night as he conceded just 21 in his fours overs whilst collecting the big wicket of Andre Russell during the slog overs.

The West Indies innings lost all its momentum, though, in the 16th over when Buttler called on former MI Cape Town wildcard Jofra Archer.

The Barbados-born seamer cut a knife through the Windies middle-order when he removed DSG star Pooran (36) at a critical time with the left-hander edging behind to Buttler.

“I brought Jof back there, Pooran and Russell coming in, two of the best batters in the world, so we brought our best bowler back in ,” Buttler said.

“Overall, that's a really good performance from us, we executed well with both bat and ball. I thought we bowled really well to restrict such a powerful batting line-up, still we had to chase it down but smart play from us.

“A lot of people say you learn when you lose but I also feel you learn when you win, important to reflect on our performance and look back what worked for us and focus on the next game.”

England would have certainly have learnt plenty from having MI Cape Town captain and legendary West Indies T20 all-rounder Kieron Pollard in their dug out as part of their coaching staff for this T20 World Cup.

Their next match is against the Proteas on Friday at the same venue in St Lucia.

Images: ICC/Getty