Jos Buttler broke into the top six Twenty20 international run-scorers with a brutal 83 to help demolish the West Indies by seven wickets.
Buttler’s 45-ball innings, which helped his England team go 2-0 up with three to play in the Twenty20 series, propelled him past Australia’s David Warner and Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan among the most prolific batsmen of the format.
And the great masterclass under the lights at Kensington Ovall, which included six sixes, one of which landed on the top of the Three W’s stand and bounced off the ground, helped put four months of injury frustration behind them.
Reaching the crease for the second ball of a chase of 159 after Saturday night centurion Phil Salt hit Akeal Hosein straight to cover in a reminder of how quickly fortunes can change, the 34-year-old simply He played with the Windies attack, sharing a stand of 129 with Will Jacks in which his second-wicket partner contributed 38.
Buttler had also been sent off for a golden duck upon his return from a calf problem, but he soon showed flashes of his best, launching a punch straight into the press center windows during a late Romario Shepherd power play that cost 21 and topping that with the almighty clean hit to Gudakesh Motie in the next over.
Jos Buttler scored 83 off 45 balls as England thrashed the West Indies once again
Buttler’s rampaging form with bat in hand earned England a victory that puts them 2-0 up in the Twenty20 series.
“We weren’t under a lot of pressure with the run rate, and Jacksy got a few, which was great at the time when I was batting quite slowly,” Buttler said.
“It took the pressure off me. I didn’t expect to go out and center it from the first ball, but I thought after 10 or 12 balls, I started to see it a lot better.
“In the position we were in, I just wanted to move forward, express myself and have some fun.”
In fact, Buttler was scoring at such a pace that he looked just a handful of deliveries away from a second T20 hundred in an England shirt when Sherfane Rutherford dropped him at extra cover. However, he failed to capitalize on that life, sending Shepherd into the next long ball. His last 80 runs came from just 35.
On what was otherwise a near-perfect day, he won consecutive tosses on one of the best chasing pitches in the world and then restricted West Indies to 158 for eight with some inspired bowling changes in what was overall a good exhibition in the first innings, although marked by a couple of poor quality errors and cough of 19 runs in wides.
But regular wicket-taking, including the first two in international cricket for Warwickshire’s Dan Mousley, kept the hosts to a total that Buttler made look minuscule.
And when Liam Livingstone concluded the aerial bombardment with a six of his own off Shepherd for offside, England were home with a whopping 5.1 unspent overs.
Although the match started promptly at 4pm, the dense layer of gray cloud hanging over Bridgetown necessitated the use of floodlights, making it another invaluable pitch.
Warwickshire player Dan Mousley (left) took his first two wickets in international cricket.
England bowler Jofra Archer (right) takes a four-over wicket in Barbados
And Buttler responded to the improved bowling conditions, employing two slips and even donning a helmet at short leg when Archer attacked from Joel Garner’s end.
On the other, Saqib Mahmood again went for wickets fresh from a career-best four for 34 in England’s crushing victory on Saturday night, and found the biggest challenge was controlling the generous swing.
Getting things right coincided with more rewards, as Brandon King missed a full ball and another clipped off the seam to pin Roston Chase’s retired leg earlier.
In between, Archer celebrated his return in place of the injured Reece Topley by producing a whiff that flew towards wicketkeeper Salt off the outside edge of Evin Lewis’ bat.
From 35 to 3, the West Indies moved into rebuilding territory. They hit 13 sixes in the first match of the series, but it was a sign of the tricky nature of the surface that the first one here did not come until the 13th over when Powell drove Livingstone’s leg-spinner over midwicket.
It was one of only two rope clearances in which England took advantage of throwing the ball onto the sticky surface, most spectacularly when West Indies dangerman Nicholas Pooran danced past a Livingstone spinner who He held on to depart towards an unusually slow 14-ball. 24.
England now travel to St Lucia one place above the West Indies in the standings after overtaking them with a double this weekend in Bridgetown.