Salt century gives England winning start to West Indies T20 series

Phil Salt hit a superb century as England drew first blood in their T20 series against West Indies, with a commanding eight-wicket victory at the Kensington Oval.

Salt's unbeaten 103 off 54 balls was the highlight for the tourists, who successfully chased down their target of 183 with 19 balls to spare.

The West Indies endured a difficult start and were reduced to 18-3 and later 117-8, with Saqib Mahmood (4-34) and Adil Rashid (3-32) doing the damage.

However, the hosts managed 65 runs in the last 5.2 overs to finish at 182-8, with Gukadesh Motie knocking 33 off 14 balls along the way.

Salt kick-started England's chase with 50 off just 25 deliveries taking them to 73-1 after six overs, with Will Jacks (17) dismissed with the final ball of the powerplay.

Jos Buttler's first match after four months out lasted just three minutes, as the skipper was caught by Motie for a golden duck.

However, it proved a false dawn for West Indies, with Salt and Jacob Bethall (58 from 36 balls) safely steering England to victory.

109* vs WI, St George’s 2023 119 vs WI, Tarouba 2023 ???* ?? ??, ?????????? ???? Three T20I hundreds for Phil Salt, all in the Caribbean pic.twitter.com/8yjca8lpUH

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) November 10, 2024

Data Debrief: Salt completes hat-trick of hundreds as Bethell makes historic half-century

England put their disappointing ODI series behind them, making history with the highest T20 chase at the Kensington Oval.

Salt was the hero with his third T20I century, all of which have come against West Indies in the past 12 months.

Bethell also made history on Saturday. Aged 21 years and 17 days, he become the youngest England player to score a 50 in a T20I.