England’s comfortable win over co-hosts West Indies is the first step in the right direction, according to opener Phil Salt. England, the defending champions, made a scratchy start in the 2022 edition as well before going on to win the title. The eight-wicket win against a form side, who had gone unbeaten in the group stages will give them confidence and momentum, according to the opener.
“I don’t know if you can compare the two but it’s definitely the first step in that direction,” Salt said on comparisons with the 2022 campaign. “I’ve already said, in tournament play you need a bit of luck at the right time and you need to build your momentum and confidence and I feel like that’s the first step in the right direction.
“I think firstly it’s a bit of confidence – you’re going to get bored of me saying confidence and momentum, but it’s a bit of confidence playing on this ground, knowing the conditions, knowing the dimensions, the wind, everything like that. Getting that momentum, that’s how I see tournament cricket. The good sides that I’ve played in have all sort of come to the peak and at the right time.”
Salt, who smashed a whirlwind 87* in the chase, credited his form to the prolonged run he was given in the side which has aided his confidence. “It’s probably one of those things that the more you play, the more you feel secure in yourself and your game,” he said.
“It’s probably one of those things that you feel more confident to do. I feel like if you’re new to the side, you’re thinking, oh, what if I get out now? I don’t want to get out now. But I feel once you’re a little bit more settled, you can sort of play that role and sort of take the onus on your own a little bit more.”
Salt also credited assistant coach Kieron Pollard, who was hired for this tournament, for his inputs when it came down to chasing totals. “Pollard’s brought a lot to the group but I’d say that’s the most valuable thing I’ve taken so far is constructing that run chase,” he noted.
“We’ve spoken a lot about taking eights from one side to take twelves from the other and that’s 200. So, it’s really simple, it sounds so simple to say it but putting that into action there wasn’t really a point in time out there I knew I was I slowed down I knew I hadn’t got much strike but I knew that If I just get through that period, then we’re going to be in a good position and I can have a good dip, a good calculated risk at the seamers.”
Even though England took control of the run chase in the second half of their innings, the game was pretty much put to bed by Salt’s assault on Romario Shepherd that saw him hammer the seamer for three fours and three sixes in a 30-run 16th over. “In the back of my head I did,” Salt said when asked if it was a premeditated attack. “I didn’t vocalise it to Jonny [Bairstow], I didn’t want him to say no – but yeah, I feel like they’ve got such good spinners and they’ve bowled really well through the middle I feel like the first sniff I got, I had to sort of take that chance.”
In fact, prior to Salt taking down Shepherd, it was Bairstow (48* off 26) who switched the momentum in favour of England after coming in to bat at No.4 after the fall of Moeen Ali’s wicket. England skipper Jos Buttler lauded the experienced batter for his contribution after the game. “He is a class player, he has been for a really long time,” Buttler said. “That’s what we decided to do, you just keep backing class players. He hasn’t had many opportunities but today was an incredibly impressive innings. A really mature, senior player’s innings. With a lot of power, he scored at a great gear when the game was just in the balance.”
Meanwhile, West Indies skipper Rovman Powell has insisted that his side’s destiny was still in their own hands despite losing their first Super 8 game. West Indies still have games remaining against the USA and South Africa in this phase.
“I think our destiny is still in our own hands,” Powell said. “It’s just for us to continue to play good cricket. And once we do that, we think we’ll be ok. Sometimes you’re going to be put in some situations where you’re going to lose a few games. It’s just for us now to pick up the pieces. When we realised that we lost the game, we tried to push the game as far as possible because we know net run rate can become a factor in the end.”
When asked if his side fell short by a few runs after posting 180 on the board, Powell said by the halfway stage they felt there was enough on the board to defend successfully. One decision that did come under the scanner was West Indies’ decision to leave out Obed McCoy, who had an excellent outing against Afghanistan.
“I think when you’re selecting a team and you have players that are playing good you will always have to make the tough decision,” Powell noted. “We sit down as a selection group and think that the team that played today is our better team to face England and it just didn’t work out tonight. We will have changes for the next game, it’s a difficult one. We still think that the guys that took the field tonight was the right guys that took the field. But those things do happen. England played a very good game of cricket tonight.”
