England captain Jos Buttler, who played a whirlwind 38-ball 83-run knock, on Sunday said he pressed the accelerator button while chasing a modest 116-run target to give themselves a chance to top the Super Eights Group 2 en route to the semi-finals of T20 World Cup. Pacer Chris Jordan (4-10) grabbed a sensational hat-trick in his birthplace before Buttler’s blitzkrieg as England stormed into the semi-finals with a 10-wicket mauling of USA.
‘We give USA a lot of respect’
“We give USA a lot of respect and we talked about if, if we brought our intensity, we would be too good. Once we got in a few overs, we tried to target this side with the wind,” Buttler said. Buttler praised leg-spinner Adil Rashid (2-13) and Liam Livingstone (1-24) for their efforts with the ball. “Adil was fantastic and Livi bowled brilliantly in tandem, it’s difficult when you are not bowling in one game and then suddenly you bowl four overs, credit to him for being ready.”
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Chris Jordan bags hat-trick
The England skipper also lauded the effort of comeback man Jordan, who mopped up the USA tail by claiming four wickets in five balls, including the hat-trick, in the 19th over as the Americans folded for 115 in 18.5 overs. “We have great options, today we wanted to bring in CJ [Chris Jordan] to bring depth to our batting, and a World Cup hat-trick is a great effort. I have been feeling good all year to be honest. “I feel I’m hitting the ball well, and it’s on me to look after my own game, as much as I’m the captain, I’m one of the 11 and I have got to do my job,” he said.
USA take away heaps of learnings: Corey
Their fairytale run was cut short by the “Big Boys” but USA batter Corey Anderson says his assorted team is signing off with its head held high and “heaps of learnings”. The USA were knocked out after losing their Super 8 stage matches to South Africa, West Indies and England. This was after a reasonably good run in the group league encounters, during which they beat Pakistan and gave India a scare. “I mean sky’s the limit really… the last few years there’s always been whispers around what’s happening in America with cricket… hopefully, in years to come as well, we can kind of grow that,” Anderson, who is from New Zealand and even played 93 games for the Kiwis.
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