Gudakesh Motie spins West Indies to victory over England at World Cup

West Indies players celebrate their win at the end of their T20 World Cup match against England at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday. Left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie tore the heart out ofEngland’s much-vaunted middle order Wednesday asthe West Indieswon by 30 runs in theirT20 World Cupclash in Mumbai. The West Indies scored 196-6 largely thanks to Sherfane Rutherford’s brutal unbeaten 76 and some late hitting from Jason Holder.

They made a brisk start to the chase before Motie, who varies between left-arm orthodox and wrist spin, bamboozled Tom Banton, Jacob Bethell and captain Harry Brook in a brilliant spell of 3-33. It pegged back England from a comfortable 85-2 in the eighth over to 131-5 in the 14th when Brook departed for 17. Sam Curran kept them in the hunt with a brave unbeaten 43 off 30 balls before he ran out of partners.

It was the second win from two for the West Indies and puts them in pole position to qualify for the Super Eights from Group C. England got off to the perfect start in their chase when opener Phil Salt carted Jason Holder’s first over for 24 with two sixes and three fours as they raced to 31-0 off 12 balls. Salt fell for 30 in the fourth over, looping a catch to Rutherford when attempting another big hit, this time off Romario Shepherd.

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England sped to 67-1 at the end of the six-over power play, with Jos Buttler on 15 and Bethell 20. Buttler hit a six off Roston Chase but perished trying to repeat the damage, caught in the deep by Rovman Powell for 21.

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