Congratulations to West Indies who became the first two-time winners in the men’s World T20 who narrowly beat England on Sunday in a thrilling final that will be remembered for many years to come. Carlos Brathwaite hit the first four balls of the final over for six as West Indies stunned England right at the end. England can take a lot of encouragement from their performance in this tournament which included victories over South Africa, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Eoin Morgan’s men played an attacking style of cricket that was a complete transformation to last year’s 50-over World Cup when they were defeated by Bangladesh and knocked out during the group stages.
Joe Root was once again the star for England who scored 54 and helped his country to a total of 155-9 in their 20 overs. He set a record for most runs scored in a men’s World T20 for England (249), surpassing the 248 scored by Kevin Pietersen in 2010. Root has certainly established himself as one of the best players in the world as he has become a run machine in all three formats of our game.
England made a fantastic start defending their total with three early wickets of Charles, Gayle and Simmons. West Indies were now 11-3 and they needed their captain Marlon Samuels who had a relatively quiet World Cup up until this point. Samuels struck 85-runs in 66-balls which was the highest individual score in a World Cup final and was awarded Man of the Match for his performance. However, it was Carlos Brathwaite who hit four sixes in the final over who became the hero for the Windies.
[quote cite=”Trevor Bayliss, England Head Coach”]If you add up the white-ball cricket games these guys have played, it’s a long way behind other teams. It’s a promising side and the signs are good. We have still got work to do, but we have a lot of good players to work with. England cricket is in good hands.[/quote]
New and exciting England
England can be proud of their performances and will leave the World Cup knowing that they are a match for any team in the world. With players such as Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes and Chris Jordan, England have a new group of talented players and a squad that will be feared by every nation in limited overs cricket. The future is bright for English cricket!
You can see the world cup finalists at Edgbaston this summer when they take on Sri Lanka in a Royal London ODI on Friday 24 June. Tickets are selling fast for this game with certain areas of the ground already sold out. England will also be in action in an Investec Test Match here in Birmingham when they take on Pakistan this summer on Wednesday 3 – Sunday 7 August. To purchase your tickets for both of these games, simply click here or call 0844 847 1902.
Competition winner
We ran a couple of competitions throughout this World Cup and we are pleased to announce that the winner of our first competition is Duncan Saunders from Derby who correctly guessed that West Indies would be crowned World Champions. Well done Duncan! Majority of our fans went for Australia, New Zealand and India with each of these teams receiving 18% of the total votes. Only 9% of our fans correctly guessed that West Indies would lift the World T20 trophy.
