Credit: X
England demolished the USA by 10 wickets and sealed qualification for the semi-finals in the T20 World Cup 2024. After losing to South Africa in the previous clash, the Three Lions needed to win the game before the 18th over but the English openers Jos Buttler and Phil Salt finished the game in 9.4 overs.
The England captain led from the front as he smashed a 38-ball 83 with six fours and seven sixes while Salt chipped in with a steady 25 in 21 balls. Though no American bowler managed to pick up a wicket, Shadley van Schalkwyk had the best economy of 9 as he gave away 15 runs in his 1.4 overs.
Talking about the first innings, the USA won the toss and got off to a steady start as they posted 48 in the powerplay while losing two wickets. But then the English bowlers stepped up to bundle out the Americans at a score of 115. Adil Rashid started the collapse as he picked up 2-13 in his four overs while being supported by Sam Curran and Liam Livingstone.
Then finishing off the American batting, Chris Jordan became the first English and ninth overall bowler to pick up a hat trick in the T20 World Cup. Jordan scalped four wickets in the penultimate over while giving zero runs. The Barbados-born pacer ended with figures of 4-10 in 2.5 overs.
Talking about his and the team's performance, Jos Buttler said, "We give USA a lot of respect and we talked about if, if we brought our intensity, we would be too good. Once we got in a few overs, we tried to target this side with the wind. Adil was fantastic and Livi bowled brilliantly in tandem, it's difficult when you are not bowling in one game and then suddenly you bowl 4 overs, credit to him for being ready."
"We have great options, today we wanted to bring in CJ to bring depth to our batting and a World Cup hat-trick is a great effort. I have been feeling good all year to be honest. I feel I'm hitting the ball well and it's on me to look after my own game, as much as I'm the captain, I'm one of the 11 and I have got to do my job."
