Key events
West Indies need 189 to win
20th over: England 188-6 (Jacks run out 9, Bethell 23*) Holder restricts England to 10 runs from the final over of the innings. Jacks hacked four to fine leg but that was the only boundary and he was run out off the last ball.
England’s total feels slightly above par. But ‘par’ is a vulnerable concept against West Indies, especially when Andre Russell is carded at No9. Batting became harder as the innings progressed so expect West Indies to come heavy in the Powerplay.
It’s a short interval, 10 minutes, so we’ll see you back here at 8.25pm sharp.
19th over: England 179-5 (Bethell 122, Jacks 1) Joseph ends with figures of 4-0-51-1, slightly scary given his spell included some really good stuff.
“Funny you should mention it looking cold at Durham,” says Tom Van der Gucht, although he doesn’t seem to be laughing. “I’d say the coldest I have physically ever been was during a WI Test match there in 2009. I made the mistake of only bringing a tweed jacket for warmth and, by the end of the day’s play, my core temperature had plunged into hypothermia territory. Sadly, I can’t even remember much of the match because I was on the verge of slipping into a coma…”
Reasons to love cricket, part 124235234123532. What other sport gives you phrases like ‘I made the mistake of only bringing a tweed jacket for warmth’?
WICKET! England 176-6 (Buttler LBW b Joseph 96)
Jos Buttler has fallen four runs short of his second IT20 hundred. Joseph pinned him right in front with a superb nipbacker, almost a Test match dismissal. Buttler reviewed in the vague hope it was bouncing over the stumps; it was not. Someone check on Eddy Nason urgently.
No century, alas, but that was a mighty innings from a genius reborn: 96 from 59 balls with six fours and four sixes.
18th over: England 168-4 (Buttler 91, Bethell 19) It was hard to watch the end of Jos Buttler’s captaincy, especially as it was clear how much it meant to him, but by heaven it’s nice to have him back. An emphatic reverse sweep for four off Shepherd makes this his highest IT20 score since 2021, before he became captain.
A pair of twos – the second including a difficult run-out chance to dismiss Bethell – takes Buttler into the nineties.
17th over: England 156-4 (Buttler 80, Bethell 18) The Sky commentators think it took West Indies a bit too long to suss out a pitch on which cutters and back-of-a-length deliveries have been harder to hit. But they have a plan now, as Holder shows during an excellent third over.
Buttler cloths a reverse scoop just short of Russell, staggering in from short third, and then pulls brilliantly behind square for four – a shot played, believe it or not, from outside the tramline on the off side.
16th over: England 148-4 (Buttler 73, Bethell 17) After a slowish start, 10 from 13 balls with plenty of mistimed strokes, Bethell whirls Alzarri Joseph over backward square for six. That’s a beautiful shot, and it elicits the familiar, playful smile that is going to get on many a bowler’s wick in the next few years.
The rest of the over is an amusing arm-wrestle, with Joseph bowling miles wide of off stump and Bethell trying to get bat on ball. There are a couple of wides, a missed reverse hoick from Bethell and finally a back cut for a single.
Jos Buttler, since you asked, has faced only four deliveries in the last three overs.
“Hope all’s well,” says Matt Emerson. “I think Proust would have been a cricket fan were he English. A la recherche… could have had chapters about You Tube clips of Javed Miandad rather than madeleines. Would it have been a better book?”
That’s not for me to say, mainly because I haven’t read À la recherche du temps perdu. You may think I’m a philistine, and you’d be right. But cut me some slack on this, I’m still working my way through Steve Waugh’s tour diaries!
15th over: England 137-4 (Buttler 73, Bethell 8) A slower ball from Shepherd is under-edged short of the keeper by Bethell. Shepherd has bowled excellently here, with lots of variation. The next ball is very short; Bethell raises his bat like a periscope, holds the pose thinking the ball is going over him for a wide and inadvertently gets two runs through midwicket. He’s so good he can score runs in front of square even when he’s trying to leave the ball.
Just six from a canny third over by Shepherd.
14th over: England 131-4 (Buttler 73, Bethell 3) Aaaand action! After eight overs without a boundary – in which he still scored at almost a run a ball – Buttler launches Chase over long-on for his fourth six.
Bethell gets lucky later in the over when a leading edge loops just wide of Russell at extra cover. It doesn’t look the easiest pitch on which to QUNCKKK! from ball one, not against an ageing ball at least.
13th over: England 121-4 (Buttler 65, Bethell 1) Motie finishes an excellent spell of 4-0-21-0, in which he conceded no boundaries. There hasn’t been much to describe, just low-risk singles and dot balls, but he has helped drag West Indies back into the game.
12th over: England 116-4 (Buttler 61, Bethell 0) That’s a really good comeback from Russell – three runs and a wicket, which is a darn sight better than the 22 he was belted for in his first over.
“Rob!” says James Walsh. “As a very ADHD person I find it quite hard to exist in the present – the future and the past just look far more tempting. The nostalgia around 2005 – cricket being on the telly, Harmison thwacking helmets, KP, the platonic ideal of Ian Bell – is now intertwined with me kissing someone for the first time in exactly twenty years. Will I look back in 2045 and think of Jos Buttler in the same way?”
Have I misread that or are you saying you kissed Jos Buttler today? On a serious note, one of the things I (mostly) love about being AuDHD is that old sport videos become almost a form of time travel. So often they trigger memories you didn’t even know you had – where you watched the game, what you were wearing, who you were with, what or who you were obsessing about at the time, whether you got carried away and emerged from a nameless gutter at 5am. It’s fascinating. Well, it is to me.
WICKET! England 116-4 (Banton LBW b Russell 3)
A short stay for Tom Banton. He was trapped on the back foot by Andre Russell and given out LBW on the field. It looked fairly high and Banton reviewed, but the technology showed it would have trimmed the bails. Umpire’s call = out.
11th over: England 113-3 (Buttler 58, Banton 3) Motie continues his boundaryless spell, with Buttler and especially Banton happy to regroup for a couple of overs. They’re still on course for 200+ at this stage.
10th over: England 108-3 (Buttler 54, Banton 2) Tom Banton, back in the England reckoning after a rough couple of years in which he fell out of his love with the game, comes in at No5.
West Indies’ spinners, Motie and Chase, are doing a fine job: they have combined figures of 3-0-20-1.
WICKET! England 104-3 (Brook b Chase 6)
Roston Chase’s first legitimate delivery is reverse-KAPOW!ed for four by Harry Brook – but he falls next ball. Chase, the canny old rogue, holds it back just enough to beat Brook’s big shot and hit the stumps. No celebration from Chase, just a knowing look.
9th over: England 99-2 (Buttler 52, Brook 2) Another good over from Motie – better, in fact, as this one cost only four.
“I think I feel the way about Jos Buttler that you did about Eoin Morgan,” writes Eddy Nason. “There’s some serious man-love and genuine awe going on (and it frankly makes me uncomfortable – quick, talk about Martin McCague!).”
Don’t feel uncomfortable – embrace it, write EFF IT on your satchel for everyone to see.
8th over: England 95-2 (Buttler 50, Brook 0) That was the last ball of the over.
WICKET! England 95-2 (Smith c Rutherford b Shepherd 38)
Buttler takes a quick single to reach an unfettered fifty from 25 balls – but then Smith pulls the next ball straight to Rutherford at deep midwicket. That ends a fine cameo of 38 from 20 balls with three fours and three sixes. As a white-ball opener, he looks a keeper.
7th over: England 85-1 (Smith 31, Buttler 48) The left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie comes on for some post-Powerplay action. It’s a good start – at least one run off every ball, but only seven in the total. West Indies will take that after conceding 45 in the previous two overs.
Breaking non-news: Jos Buttler is a genius
6th over: England 78-1 (Smith 29, Buttler 43) Talking of serious ball-strikers… Jos Buttler has pummelled 23 from the last over of the Powerplay. He charged Joseph’s first two balls, both back of a length, and WHAMMM!ed them over mid-on and midwicket respectively for six. A scoop for four was followed by another for six, met on the full and timed perfectly. Now that he’s no longer captain, Buttler looks at peace with life and cricket, and that’s extremely ominous for bowlers around the world.
Russell’s first over goes for 22
5th over: England 55-1 (Smith 29, Buttler 20) Andre Russell’s first over has disappeared for 22. Buttler reverse-scooped his first ball for four, then Smith slammed a no-ball over long on for six.
Russell avoided further damage from the free hit – but not the last ball of the over, which Smith waved emphatically over long on for six more. This kid is a serious ball-striker.
4th over: England 33-1 (Smith 16, Buttler 12) Jason Holder changes ends to good effect. An early wide didn’t bode well but he was in control after that and conceded only singles. Buttler, on the charge, was also beaten by a nice slower ball.
West Indies have dragged it back after conceding 16 from the first over.
3rd over: England 28-1 (Smith 14, Buttler 10) Alzarri Joseph, who bowled some scintillating spells in the ODI series, comes into the attack. He starts pretty well, beating Buttler with a wide delivery and conceding only six – no boundaries – from the over. You’d take that in the Powerplay, now and forever.
“Evening Rob,” writes Guy Hornsby. “Following this one from a rainy train to Oxford for the wedding of two wonderful cricket nerds, Josh and Mel (Josh’s stag do was a two-innings T20 Test match: he’s one of us). I too am very much on the Liam Dawson wagon, for no other reason that he’s the best spinning all-rounder we have. I wish him success, because you feel there’s a (long shot) Test career rebirth there should he go well and poor Bashir get sliced and diced by the Indian batters (which I hope doesn’t happen, just for his career). But West Indies are a very decent T20 side, so this should be a good evening for those in Durham. Game on!”
I assume that’s the only wagon you’ll be on this weekend. All the very best to Josh and Mel for tomorrow; if their story doesn’t inspire somebody to set up a dating app solely for cricket nerds, I don’t know what will. Imagine it! Interests: friendship, dating, Vince Wells’ England career, the evolution of the wobble seam, loneliness, nurse!
2nd over: England 22-1 (Smith 13, Buttler 5) Shepherd greets Buttler with a leg-side wide, then a full ball that Buttler swings lazily back over the bowler’s head for four. And why not?
“With almost perfect OBO timing, Scotland have just beaten the Netherlands in an ODI at Forthill CC in sunny Dundee by 44 runs in the latest of this week’s tri-series World Cup qualifiers, pathway SWOOSH! BLAP!” writes Simon McMahon. “Probably a couple of hundred there, with Nepal next up on Sunday. Riddle me this, what’s the smallest crowd recorded for an ODI/T20 in England, or indeed around the world? I know you’ll have to check…”
I really will, and I’ve no idea where to start.
WICKET! England 16-1 (Duckett c Hope b Shepherd 1)
Romario Shepherd, who has just joined the squad after playing in the IPL final on Tuesday, strikes third ball. It was a clever bit of bowling, a slower ball that Duckett spooned high in the air. Shai Hope did the rest.
1st over: England 16-0 (Smith 13, Duckett 1) Jason Holder opens the bowling to Jamie Smith, who clumps the ball through mid-off for four. Holder calls from some sawdust after bowling a leg-side wide, which leads to a delay of around 90 seconds.
When play resumes, Smith lifts Holder nonchalantly over the leg side for four and mangles another boundary to the left of mid-on. Sixteen from the over. The power and variety of Smith’s strokeplay make him such a dangerous proposition in the Powerplay.
It’s not the warmest night in Durham – Ben Duckett is wearing long sleeves as he walks out with Jamie Smith – but it’s dry and the forecast suggests that will remain the case.
Team news
Liam Dawson returns to the England side for the first time since 2022. That’s a major victory for the Wisden podcast, not to mention Liam Dawson. Jamie Smith will open in the absence of Phil Salt, who is on paternity leave, and Will Jacks continues his ODL role at No7.
West Indies have a much stronger side than in the ODI series, with frightening depth in their batting – Andre Russell is at No9.
England Smith, Duckett, Buttler (wk), Brook (c), Banton, Bethell, Jacks, Dawson, Carse, Rashid, Potts.
West Indies Charles, Lewis, Hope (c/wk) Chase, Rutherford, Powell, Holder, Shepherd, Motie, A Joseph.
England win the toss and bat
“Looks like a good pitch and hopefully we can put a good score on the board,” says Harry Brook. The local lad Matthew Potts, who was omitted from the Test squad earlier in the week, will make his IT20 debut.
Big interview: Andre Russell
The man with the biggest muscles in cricket talks to Andre Russell.
“The one off Hardik Pandya at the Wankhede in the 2016 World Cup,” he says when asked to name his favourite six. “That one was just massive. Perfect swing. Right out of the middle.” There’s a moment of silence before Russell blows out his cheeks at the memory. “That one was crazy.” You can look it up and decide for yourself, watch the umpire Richard Kettleborough’s chuckle of astonishment as the ball soars into the top tier of Mumbai’s famous stadium and he signals the obvious. Yeah, that’s a six all right.
Preamble
BANG! KAPOW! MADON! THWACK! SOCK! OOOFF!
Those of a certain [proximity to the Grim Reaper age will know these words were all used during fights in the Batman series of the 1960s. (Except MADON!, but that’s another story.) A few of them will be needed tonight as well, and not only to describe the post-pub dialectics up and down the land.
There should be plenty of THWACK!ing at Chester-le-Street, where England play West Indies – the six-hitting kings of Twenty20 – in the first of a three-match series.
England won the ODI series fairly comfortably, but the addition of Rovman Powell, Johnson Charles, Romario Shepherd, Andre Russell and others makes this a much stronger West Indies team.
It should be competitive. It’ll definitely require capital letters and exclamation marks.
The match starts at 6.30pm.
