Key events
WICKET! Milind Kumar c Buttler b Livingstone 4 (USA 88-5)
Any USA joy is short lived – a top edge from Kumar is swallowed by Buttler.
Corey Anderson swipes a SIX! That’s more like it – USA haven’t found the fence in nearly six overs. A reverse-sweep that is nailed and catches the breeze ends the drought.
12th over: USA 79-4 (Anderson 15, M Kumar 4) Buttler decides to keep an ace up his sleeve and replaces Rashid with Chris Jordan. Six runs worked off the over but it isn’t enough for USA, they need someone to step up and take a few risks here, to try and supplant the pressure back on to England.
11th over: USA 73-4 (Anderson 8, M Kumar 1) Rashid has one over left, will Buttler bowl him out or keep one back? I’d be tempted with the former. Milind Kumar is the new batter and he drives a single off his first ball. USA in a spin induced pickle.
WICKET! Nitish Kumar b Rashid 30 (USA 67-4)
Rashid continues after drinks… BOWLED HIM! A perfectly pitched googly is too good for Nitish Kumar. The ball spitting back into the stumps and raising the bails like a pair of quizzical eyebrows.
“Hi James”
Hello to you Colum Fordham.
“Been very impressed by this USA team thus far. Their ability and courage against strong teams like Pakistan has been praiseworthy. But the learning curve against the top flight is tough. And talking of flight, Adil Rashid is giving a masterclass. All the variations and the googly has flumoxed the very promising Aaron Jones. Hope England prevail… but by no means is this match over. Cannot underestimate this doughty American team. Wish I was in Barbados but will have to make do with Naples.”
10th over: USA 65-3 (Kumar 29, Anderson 6) USA can’t find the boundary against England’s spinners. Buttler has some control and comfort at the minute as Livingstone is worked for singles. Ten overs gone and time for a slurp of something refreshing. Where’s John Starbuck with his trolley?
9th over: USA 59-3 (Kumar 25, Anderson 3) Corey Anderson replaces his departing captain and sweeps fine to get off the mark first ball. One wicket and four runs off the over. Rashid doing his thing.
WICKET! Aaron Jones b Rashid 10 (USA 56-3)
Jones tries to slog sweep Rashid into the stands but fails to read the googly, the ball fizzing inside his stroke and thunking into middle stump. Rashid allows himself the faintest lip twitch of a smile. What a bowler he is.
8th over: USA 55-2 (Kumar 25, A Jones 10) Liam Livingstone is going to lend initial support to Rashid through these tricksy middle overs. The Cumbrian marra can tweak it both ways of course. Close! Livingstone beats the edge with a ball that turns shortly. Closer! Livingstone takes the edge of Jones’s bat on the forwards prod but the ball runs fine through the vacant slip region and away for four. Buttler paws at his chin with a keeping glove. Five off the over.
7th over: USA 50-2 (Kumar 24, A Jones 6) Rashid adds to his fine body of work in this tournament. He causes all sorts of conundrums in the over. USA do well to nudge two singles.
6th over: USA 48-2 (Kumar 23, A Jones 5) The USA captain comes to the crease and he picks off a boundary second ball, gliding the ball down through the vacant point region. Here comes England’s quiet genius – Adil Rashid.
WICKET! Taylor c Ali b Curran 12 (USA 43-2)
Gone! Moeen Ali takes a fine diving catch, taking the ball in both hands at backward point as Taylor tries to cut away too close to his body. Curran does get the breakthrough!
Curran bustles into the crease in his goomba-ish fashion. His first ball is scythed away through third for four…
5th over: USA 39-1 (Taylor 8, Kumar 23) Topley into his third over and he’s put under real pressure by Nitesh Kumar! A full length ball is razed over mid-off for four runs and then followed up by a fantastic strike for SIX straight back down the ground! Kumar looks in good touch, Topley gets out of the over for the cost of 13 runs. England turn to Sam Curran for the next over. Can he break this burgeoning partnership?
4th over: USA 26-1 (Taylor 7, Kumar 11) Kumar clips off his toes for a couple. Archer responds with three dots. A rapid bouncer is then kissed rather than slammed into the wicket and rises nastily, Kumar flashes at it and the top edge soars over the boundary directly behind Jos Buttler for SIX. Decent punch back this from the Americans.
3rd over: USA 18-1 (Taylor 7, Kumar 3) Topley resumes, a nice looking drive from Kumar sees him off the mark with a couple through cover. Kumar then forces away for a quick single that is well stopped in the ring. Shot! Taylor flicks away wristily for four runs. Seven off the over.
2nd over: USA 11-1 (Taylor 3, Kumar 0) Jofra Archer reels off a fine over. Sauntering in and then sending the ball down with an unfathomable ferocity. The batters can’t get a blade on it and that nearly brings about another wicket – Taylor wanted to sneak a quick single but was rightly sent back by Kumar. Liam Livingstone had a shy at the stumps and if he’s hit then Taylor was gone gone gone. The batter had given up and was reduced to being a bystander to the throw.
“Jim, mention of rum earlier prompted me to stock up for this session with one new to me: Duppy. I can recommend it for getting into the mood. Does the OBO have a favourite beverage?”
Anything wet and cold, John. Cheers.
1st over: USA 9-1 (Taylor 1, Kumar 0) A frenetic start in Barbados. Nitish Kumar is in at first drop.
WICKET! Gous c Salt b Topley 8 (USA 9-1)
A streaky start for both opening batters as they get off the mark to slightly spurious edges. Topley beats Gous with a ripper that pitches and moves off the straight. The wicket looks a tadge tacky and there is a bit of movement in the air with the new ball. SIX! Gous flicks a leg stump half volley away over square leg with panache. Next ball is in the same spot and Gous repeats the shot…BUT doesn’t get it fine enough and instead finds the safe hands of Phil Salt! England strike in the first over. Gous is cooked!
Right then, Reece Topley has the ball in his hub cap sized hands. Aaron Taylor and Andries Gous will open up for America. The latter started slowly against South Africa but showed his ability to go through the gears and really gave the Proteas a fright a few days ago with his 80*. A rapid 29 off 16 against West Indies in the last match also showed he can get off to a flier too. PLAY!
The players are out on the field and the anthems are blasting. The Star Spangled Banner is particularly sonorous. USA 1-0 up in the anthem stakes. Though I can’t think of any anthem that is worse than England’s?
A reminder – England need to win and not let this game go right down to the wire. If they win and the margin of victory is less than ten runs or so or if the game goes down to the final over – then they’ll be in strife.
I’ve done the maths, and England need to win and keep their net run rate above 0.556 to be mathematically through. If West Indies don’t beat SA, England would be through on points. And if WI do win, that’s the highest South Africa’s NRR can reach in defeat
— Ben Gardner (@Ben_Wisden) June 23, 2024
Oh, and we should all probably have a long, hard stare at this:
Awful scenes. A reminder that the women’s world cup is brought to you by the @ICC and Aramco – the world’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emitter. https://t.co/PqdXwUSoJF
— tanya aldred (@tjaldred) June 23, 2024
I must’ve watched this at least 43 times and I’m still not done:
Teams:
USA: Steven Taylor, Andries Gous (wk), Nitish Kumar, Aaron Jones (c), 5 Corey Anderson, Milind Kumar, Harmeet Singh, Nosthush Kenjinge, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Ali Khan, Saurabh Netravalkar
England:Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (c & wk), Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley
England win the toss and choose to bowl first!
Joss Buttler calls the coin correctly and decides to ‘chase’ in the modern parlance. Buttler confirms that Chris Jordan comes in for Mark Wood.
Aaron Jones admits to Mike Atherton that he would have bowled first but he doesn’t seem too fussed, big smile on his face and the Kensington Oval reflected in his wraparound shades. The USA captain went to school with Jofra Archer and they find themselves playing against each other today on the biggest stage. A nice little story and bit of sub-text to keep an eye on.
Jones confirms USA are unchanged.
Chris Jordan has been spotted marking our his run up. So he’s either engaging in some Mitch Marsh esque chicanery or looks to come into the side. I suspect Mark Wood could be the man to step aside, toss incoming so watch this space…
It is bright and sunny in Barbados at the moment with the forecast set fair. That’s one less thing for England to worry about. They do have their destiny completely in their own hands – win and win well and there won’t be any problems in securing a semi-final spot.
Another sigh of relief from Messrs Mott and Buttler also came in the shape of a shock Afghanistan win over the Aussies. All of a sudden it is Mitch Marsh’s side who are sweating on safe passage – they’ll likely now have to take down the mighty Indians in order to progress to the semis.
Preamble
James Wallace
Brass tacks time. Over to England’s Harry Brook:
“We’ve played in Barbados quite a lot the last six months or so. So we know the conditions, the wind and the pitch as well. Hopefully we can go out there and give them a good battering.”
Them being the USA, the tournament’s co-hosts and cockle-warming surprise package. Once again, today’s match will be a case of keeping one eye on the sky and one on the Net Run Rate column for England’s players in this T20 world cup.
The Americans have already proven themselves as a threat in this format (just ask Pakistan, just ask India’s much vaunted top order or South Africa’s bowlers) and Jos Buttler’s men have hardly hit their straps so far.
This is the first meeting between the two nations in a full international format, Stuart Law’s side are cooked when it comes to a semi-final berth barring some kind of miracle that my tiny mind can’t even begin to compute. Nevertheless, the USA will be hoping to make a statement and give the ‘Limeys’ a good squeeze.
There’s always the chance of an upset in the T20 format, time will tell if ‘Arry’s tempestuous words come back to bite like a baltic breeze on a bare backside.
Our rum soaked and sun kissed man on the ground – Ali Martin – has prepared the perfect preamble to today’s match:
The match begins at 3.30pm BST, I’ll be back shortly before with news of the teams and toss.
