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7th over: England 80-0 (Salt 42, Buttler 37) Powell makes yet another bowling change, bringing on Gudakesh Motie. Like a few bowlers this afternoon, he bowls a decent half-over and then gets carted. Buttler pulls out the leg glance and the reverse sweep again. if only he could have done this at the World Cup.
6th over: England 68-0 (Salt 39, Buttler 28) Rovman Powell turns to his fourth bowler, Jason Holder. It helps a bit: his over goes for just ten, but Salt still rounds off the Powerplay with a lofted off drive, played on the up, a lovely blend of strength and touch. If anyone in India is still awake to see this, they may be kicking themselves for not snapping him up.
5th over: England 58-0 (Salt 31, Buttler 27) Back comes Forde, but he can’t stop the flow of runs – because he goes leg-stump-ish when he doesn’t have a fine leg. Buttler glances for four, Salt shovels four more, and then Salt goes berserk with successive sixes – a pull and a straight drive. That’s 22 off the over and the first six brought up the fifty off just 29 balls. Poor old Forde, after two overs in this format, has career figures of none for 34.
4th over: England 36-0 (Salt 14, Buttler 22) Hosein, who has bagged Buttler twice in this series, nearly completes the hat-trick as a mistimed chip goes perilously close to the man diving to his left at extra-cover. Instead it goes for four, and then Buttler cashes in ruthlessly – six with a reverse sweep, four with an orthodox one. As David Gower notes, the second one was set up by “a dummy shimmy”. Not a phrase you’ll find in the MCC Coaching Book.
England’s captain Jos Buttler plays a shot. Photograph: Ricardo Mazalán/AP3rd over: England 21-0 (Salt 13, Buttler 8) Hang on! We were told that Kyle Mayers had been left out, but here he is coming on to bowl. Rumours of Johnson Charles’s elevation may have been exaggerated – sorry about that. Mayers starts tidily too with his military medium, before Buttler lofts him over mid-off for his first four. As Brandon King goes off the field with an injury of some kind, the camera home in on two drummers drumming.
2nd over: England 14-0 (Salt 12, Buttler 2) At the other end it’s spin from Akeal Hosein. He struggled in the last game but starts well here, with three dots to Buttler, cramping him for room. Buttler steps away to leg and works a single into the off side. Salt flicks one to square leg, and then Buttler can only push a thick edge for no run, so that’s an excellent over from Hosein, just two from it. Advantage nobody!
1st over: England 12-0 (Salt 11, Buttler 1) Forde finds some swing right away, back into these two right-handers. Phil Salt takes a single first ball, Jos Buttler follows suit off two balls later, and after four balls Forde has gone for only two. Then Salt goes big! Down the track, six over mid-off. And the same again, but all along the ground. Advantage England.
It looks as if we’ll be starting on time. Matthew Forde, a T20 international debutant, has just received his cap and now he has the new ball too.
The word from the groundOur man on the spot in Trinidad is Simon Burnton, who sent this before the teams were announced. “The covers are on as I type,” he wrote. “They dragged them on five minutes ago, though as far as I can tell it isn’t and hasn’t been raining. Word is two changes to the England team today, and I expect Chris Woakes and Rehan Ahmed to come back in.” The Guardian’s finger, forever on the pulse.
“A few weeks ago,” Simon went on, “there was talk of Trinidadians boycotting this match in protest against Darren Bravo being left out of the ODI squad, and perceived bias against Trinidadians among the West Indies selectors, so it’ll be interesting to see what kind of crowd turns up. Oh, and the covers are coming back off!” Phew.
Teams in brief: two changes apieceWest Indies make two like-for-like changes, bringing in Johnson Charles for Kyle Mayers at the top of the order, and Matthew Forde for Alzarri Joseph among the seamers.
England bring back Chris Woakes and Rehan Ahmed in place of Tymal Mills and Gus Atkinson, so they will have more spinners – possibly five of them, with the two leggies, Ahmed and Rashid, joined by two offies (Moeen and Jacks) and one mixture of the two (Livingstone).
Toss: West Indies opt to chaseThe toss is hosted by Samuel Badree. Jos Buttler calls heads, but it’s tails.
“I think you know what we’re going to do, Badree,” says Rovman Powell with a smile. “Bowl first.”
Buttler says he would have done that too.
PreambleEvening everyone and welcome to the latest episode of a prime-time drama. It may not be as close as England’s thrilling win in Grenada on Saturday, but there’s just as much riding on it.
Lose in Trinidad tonight and England will have lost this series as well as the ODI one, so there will be no arguing that they were a match for the resurgent West Indies. Win it, however, and the T20 series will be beautifully poised at 2-2. The momentum will be with England, who should then have a good chance of pulling off one of these.
In this absorbing five-setter, the role of Andy Murray is being played by Phil Salt. He may not have an England contract, he may not have an IPL contract, but he’s been the player of this series so far. He has 174 runs, which is 50 more than the next man (Rovman Powell) and a few more than the next two Englishmen combined (Jos Buttler has 95, Liam Livingstone 74). In a region that prides itself on its ability to clear the rope, Salt also has the most sixes in the series (11, one more than Powell). And he hit nine of them while visibly wilting in the heat.
Among the bowlers, the star has been another IPL reject, Adil Rashid, with six wickets for 68 off his 12 overs. His enduring excellence has made sure that England have been the better side at spin (11 wickets at an average of 23, as against their hosts’ five at 28). But West Indies have won the battle of the seamers by a street, taking 15 wickets at 28 compared to England’s eight at 38.
Today’s game, at the Brian Lara Academy in Tarouba, starts at 4pm rather than lunchtime, but the sun should still be blazing down. According to the forecast, it will be 31 degrees at the start of play and 27 by the end. The toss is at 3.30 local time, 7.30pm GMT, so I’ll be back soon after that with the teams.