England opened their T20 World Cup 2021 campaign in an emphatic fashion as they annihilated West Indies by 7 wickets at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Saturday (October 23).

Opting to bowl first, England bundled out the defending champions for a mere 55 in 14.2 overs – the lowest score by a Test playing nation in the T20 World Cup history. It was an abysmal performance with the bat as Chris Gayle (13) was the only one to cross the double figures.

For England, off-spinner Moeen Ali (2-17) bowled three overs in the powerplay and picked up two wickets while leg-spinner Adil Rashid ran through the Caribbean batting line-up and returned with the figures of 4 for 2 in his 2.2 overs.

The pace trio of Tymal Mills (2-17), Chris Jordan (1-7), and Chris Woakes (1-12) also contributed and took four scalps between them.

In reply, England were expected to chase down the total without breaking a sweat but they had a bit of hard time. Ravi Rampaul dismissed Jason Roy (11) and Moeen Ali (3) got run out while Akeal Hosein got rid of Jonny Bairstow (9) and Liam Livingstone (1) to reduce England to 39/4 in 6.1 overs.

In the end, the duo of wicketkeeper-batter Jos Butter (24*) and skipper Eoin Morgan (7*) completed the formalities and took England over the line with 70 balls to spare.

Brief Scores:

West Indies 55 all-out in 14.2 overs (Adil Rashid 4-2; Moeen Ali 2-17; Tymal Mills 2-17) lost to England 56/4 in 8.2 overs (Jos Buttler 24*; Akeal Hosein 2-24) by 6 wickets