Buttler (150) trumps Gayle (162) in bruising contest
Buttler (150) trumps Gayle (162) in bruising contest
KINGSTON: England captain Eoin Morgan says his team were “fortunate” to defeat West Indies at St George’s in Grenada after a Chris Gayle-inspired home side nearly did the unthinkable and almost chased down England’s mammoth target of 418 in the fourth One-Day International.
Centuries from Morgan and Jos Buttler had guided the tourists to the highest ever score against West Indies in an ODI in the Caribbean and restated England’s credentials as the most destructive batting order in the world after a blip in game two in Barbados. It was an effort which looked to have put the game beyond West Indies but Gayle’s brilliant 162 looked at one stage as if it would lead the home side to a remarkable victory. In the end, West Indies fell just 29 runs short as Adil Rashid took their last four wickets in the 48th over.
Morgan said: “Adil is a strong asset of ours. He has the ability to bowl anywhere in the 50 overs and particularly at the end, he poses a huge threat with his variations. He kept his calm. It wasn’t easy to bowl to the short side, particularly to Chris Gayle, and then when he came on at the far end, he found really nice rhythm and found nice purchase off the pitch. That breeds confidence. To come back and bowl an over where he takes four wickets and wins us the game is outstanding.”
A strong breeze, short boundaries and a flat pitch aided the batting carnage but it was a quite brilliant game of cricket which ebbed and flowed and was in the balance until the last few overs. “It was a hell of a game,” Morgan said at the post-match presentation. “We really did go toe to toe with West Indies today. We were very fortunate, particularly with that spell that Adil came back with, to get over the line because we were probably sitting in second position for the last 15 overs of the game. We needed something special and Adil produced that in his final over.
Rashid wasn’t the only bowler to impress. Mark Wood continued his good form with four top-order wickets but there were plenty of nervy moments in West Indies’ chase, particularly when Gayle was at the crease.
The West Indian opener proved that even at the age of 39, he is still to be feared and during this innings, he passed 10,000 ODI runs becoming just the second man from the Caribbean to achieve that feat, behind Brian Lara. Gayle was finally dismissed by Ben Stokes and although Carlos Brathwaite did his best to continue the fight with a quickfire half-century, West Indies just ran out of steam.
Most sixes in an ODI match
Teams 4s 6s Ground Match Date
WI vs Eng 64 46 St George’s 27 Feb 2019
Ind vs Aus 59 38 Bengaluru 2 No 2013
NZ vs Ind 62 31 Christchurch 8 Mar 2009
NZ vs WI 62 31 Wellington 21 Mar 2015
WI vs Eng 58 29 Bridgetown 20 Feb 2019
Eng vs WI 50 28 Bristol 24 Sep 2017
UAE vs WI 47 28 Harare 6 Mar 2018
Eng vs Aus 56 28 Nottingham 19 Jun 2018
Eng vs NZ 74 27 The Oval 12 Jun 2015
Highest aggregates in ODIs
Teams Runs Wkts Ground Match Date
SA vs Aus 872 13 Johannesburg 12 Mar 2006
Ind vs SL 825 15 Rajkot 15 Dec 2009
WI vs Eng 807 16 St George’s 27 Feb 2019
Eng vs NZ 763 14 The Oval 12 Jun 2015
Ind vs Eng 747 14 Cuttack 19 Jan 2017
SA vs Aus 743 12 Durban 5 Oct 2016
Scot vs Eng 736 15 Edinburgh 10 Jun 2018
SA vs WI 730 9 Johannesburg 18 Jan 2015.
Article source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/438288-buttler-150-trumps-gayle-162-in-bruising-contest