T20 World Cup: England storms into semis with 10-wicket rout of USA

BRIDGETOWN: Skipper Jos Buttler led the way with a 38-ball 83 not out after Chris Jordan’s four-wicket burst, including a hat-trick as defending champion England stormed into the T20 World Cup semi-finals with a 10-wicket rout of USA here on Sunday.

Buttler smashed six fours and seven sixes, five of them coming against left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh in the ninth over, as England shot out the paltry 116-run target in 9.4 overs.

Earlier, making a comeback in place of Mark Wood, Jordan mopped up the USA tail by picking four wickets in five balls, including the hat-trick, in the 19th over.

The 35-year-old Jordan, who was born in Christ Church, Barbados, began the eventful over dismissing a well-set Corey Anderson for 29 with a low full toss.

After surviving the next ball, Ali Khan found his offstump knocked over as Jordan went on to dismiss Nosthush Kenjige and Saurabh Netravalkar off successive deliveries to pick the first hat-trick for England in T20Is. Jordan had figures of 4/10 from his 2.5 overs.

It was Sam Curran (2/23) who triggered the collapse dismissing Harmeet Singh (21; 17b) in the final delivery of the previous over as USA suffered a stunning collapse, losing five wickets in six balls without any addition to the total. Adil Rashid took a miserly 2/13 in four overs.

Andries Gous flicked Reece Topley towards fine leg for a six but two balls later, hit the ball straight to Phil Salt at deep square leg while attempting a similar shot.

USA faced some nervous moments in the day’s second over as Steven Taylor survived a run out after giving up hope of returning back to the crease in time. It would have been over for him if Liam Livingstone’s throw had hit the stumps.

At the other end, Nitish Kumar top-edged a fast delivery from Jofra Archer that flew over deep third man for a maximum.

Kumar played a lovely shot over mid-on for a boundary off Topley and in the next ball, the Canadian-born 30-year-old produced a clean hit over long-on for a six.

Curran was brought in as first change and he delivered in his first over, cutting short Taylor’s stay in the middle thanks to an excellent catch by Moeen Ali at backward point. Taylor’s dismissal marked Curran’s 50th wicket in T20 Internationals.

Skipper Aaron Jones quickly got off the mark by steering one through the third man region for a four as USA ended powerplay at 48 for two.

Brief scores: USA 115 in 18.5 overs (C Jordan 4/10) lost to England 117/0 in 9.4 overs (J Buttler 83*)