West Indies captain Shai Hope hailed his team’s all-round display after their convincing 30-run win over England in a key Group C encounter of the T20 World Cup on Wednesday.
Sherfane Rutherford’s unbeaten 76 and Gudakesh Motie’s match-defining spell of 3/32 ensured the Caribbean side registered their second win of the tournament.
“I’m just happy that the guys got off the line. We’ve been playing good patches of cricket, but today was more of a complete performance,” Hope said at the post-match presentation. “Two wins from two is exactly where we want to be on the table.”
Shai Hope reserved special praise for Roston Chase, who contributed with both bat and ball.
“He’s a versatile player. With the bat, he can stabilize the innings, and with the ball, he gives you crucial overs in the middle. It was great to see him pick up important wickets and put England under pressure, exactly what we needed.”
Explaining Chase’s role in the batting order, Hope added: “In that situation, we wanted him to steady things a bit. We know we have a lot of power in our line-up. Today required a slightly different role from him, and he executed it perfectly.”
The skipper also praised Rutherford’s consistency in recent months. “Rutherford has been exceptional in the last few series. It’s great to see one of the batters put his hand up and go big for the team.”
Hope was equally pleased with his spin attack, particularly Motie, whose middle-overs spell derailed England’s chase.
“When you get time off, you’ve got to keep improving and elevating your game. Motie has been one of our class bowlers for some time now. He’s shown his quality again on the world stage. He’s added something new to his game, and it’s benefiting us massively in the middle overs.”
Player of the Match Rutherford confirmed his finger injury was not serious and expressed confidence he would be fit for the next game.
Also Read: England undone by spin as West indies roar back
“One of the biggest challenges was Adil Rashid. We knew in our meetings that he’d be the toughest bowler. For me, it was important to strike against him, build partnerships, and back ourselves to catch up later,” Rutherford said.
“Once I trust my process and read the situation well, I know I can accelerate at the end. It was about having a clear mind and batting with awareness.”
England captain Harry Brook admitted the defeat was disappointing but credited West Indies for their dominant performance.
“Everybody knows the power they have. If you’re slightly off your line or length, they’ll hit you for six,” Brook said. “We felt the target was chaseable, but we didn’t execute as well as we usually do.”
Reflecting on England’s narrow four-run win over Nepal in their opener, Brook added: “Thank goodness we won that game, otherwise we’d be in a tricky spot. T20 cricket is fickle, it can swing either way. We’ll reflect on this and come back stronger in a few days.”
Comments are closed.