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Following West Indies' four-wicket win against England in the first T20I match of the five-game series at Kensington Oval in Barbados on Wednesday, the Caribbean skipper Rovman Powell said that it was a good performance from his team.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Powell revealed they got information about how the pitch was playing and made their plans accordingly. He added that they need to improve in the upcoming games of the series and have to control their bowling powerplay. He also said that they are not thinking about the 2024 T20 World Cup currently and are looking at every possible opportunity before the start of the ICC tournament. "It was a good performance. After the batting PP, we got information about how the pitch was playing and we adjusted to that. I don't think about captaincy when I'm batting, it comes only later, I just try and play my natural game. There is still room for improvement, we have to control the powerplay (with the ball), if we do that, not a lot of teams will have such power down the order and they'll be on the back foot. We aren't thinking about the World Cup as yet, we're looking at the possible opportunities before that tournament, get our team set and then we have a good chance," Powell said. Recapping the match, after winning the toss, West Indies decided to field first. The opening duo of Philip Salt (40 runs from 20 balls) and Jos Buttler (39 runs from 31 balls) were the only standout batters for the English side in the game. Their contribution helped the away side to 171 runs in the first innings. Russell led the West Indies bowling attack scalping three wickets for only 19 runs. Alzarri Joseph also picked three wickets but he gave away 54 runs in his 3.3-over spell. In the run chase of 172 runs, West Indies started well after Brandon King (22 runs from 12 balls) and Kyle Mayers (35 runs from 21 balls) set the tone for them. After the collapse of the middle order, the West Indies skipper Rovman Powell (31 runs from 15 balls) stayed at the crease till the end and helped his side clinch a memorable victory. Russell (29 runs from 14 balls) again played a pivotal role with the bat and made a solid partnership with his skipper to clinch the win. Rehan Ahmed led the English bowling attack after he scalped three wickets in his four-over spell for 39 runs but failed to defend the target. The four-wicket win in the first T20I match helped the Caribbeans take the early lead in the five-game 20-over format series. (ANI)
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