Salt 109*, Brook cameo power England home in final-over thriller

Phil Salt served a timely reminder of his T20 prowess just days ahead of the IPL auction with a 56-ball 109 that included 9 sixes. Jos Buttler and Salt added 115 for the opening wicket after Nicholas Pooran's 45-ball 82 powered West Indies to 222/6. England's chase was still not on when it entered the death overs, with them needing 71 from 24 balls. Salt dragged that down to 21 off 6 from where Harry Brook teed off against Andre Russell to secure an incredible win for the visitors.

England's win keeps the series alive at 2-1 after West Indies had taken a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

About that last over...

4 6 6 2 6

Brook absolutely aced this one-v-one tussle that the chase came down to against Andre Russell. The West Indian started off by attempting a yorker but missed his mark and Brook flicked it away for a four. Russell then went full and outside off but Brook used his long levers to smash a six over extra cover. The next ball was a poor full toss on the leg side that Brook hit over fine leg for another six. The target was down to 5 off 3 balls and then 3 off 2, which Brook polished off with the third six of the over - slicing another full ball outside off over third man.

Lead-up to that over...

Despite Salt going strong and Buttler chipping in with a strong opening stand, West Indies had a grip on the game as their left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie kept a lid on the scoring. In a game where runs were scored at more than 11-an-over in both innings, Motie conceded 30 off his 4 - despite going for 18 runs in his first over - and picked the wicket of Will Jacks. Liam Livingstone and Salt attempted to turn the tide around with a quick-fire 70-run partnership off just 37 balls. With 83 needed from 5 overs, Salt took on Russell in a 12-run over before both the batters went after Alzarri Joseph to pick 20 runs in the 17th over. England were suddenly in with a sniff, even as Livingstone was dismissed for an 18-ball 30 and Joseph bowled a relatively tight penultimate over to conceded 10 runs. That left Russell to defend 21 against Brook, which he failed to do.

How the chase began...

One big reason why England managed to find their way past the finish line despite being in such a big chase was the way they began. Butler laid down the marker in the first over from Akeal Hossein, carting him for two successive sixes. Salt joined in and there was carnage early on as the pair smashed 73 off the first six overs. The relaxed field restrictions didn't change one thing as Salt and Buttler took England to 107/0 in 10 overs to keep them on track.

The only real wobble came in the 12th and 13th over when they lost Buttler and Jacks, but England quickly picked up the pieces through Salt and Livingstone first and then via Salt and Brook. During the course of the first big stand of the two, Salt brought up a fantastic century.

Nicholas Pooran's earlier heroics

West Indies' start was quite the opposite as they lost both openers Brandon King and Kyle Mayers by the second over for just 8 runs. Pooran then put together small but vital stands with the trio of Shai Hope (26 off 19), Rovman Powell (39 off 21) and Sherfane Rutherford (29 off 17) to push West Indies ahead. 60 runs from his knock of 82 came in fours and sixes (6 each) as he set the team up for a 200-plus total. Jason Holder's five-ball 18 tipped them well past the mark as West Indies smashed 54 in the last three overs. As it turned out, even that proved to be insufficient.

Brief Scores:West Indies 222/6 in 20 overs (Nicholas Pooran 82, Rovman Powell 39; Adil Rashid 2-32) lost to England 226/3 in 19.5 overs (Phil Salt 109*, Jos Buttler 51, Harry Brook 31*, Liam Livingstone 30; Gudakesh Motie 1-30) by 7 wickets