1st T20I: Saqib Mahmood claims career-best 4/34 versus WI
England speedster Saqib Mahmood produced a stellar spell in the first T20I against West Indies, returning with career-best figures of four for 34. The match was played in Barbados where England won the toss and opted to field first. Mahmood's brilliance restricted WI to 182/9. The Brits (183/2) later accomplished the target in just 16.5 overs. Here we look at Mahmood's performance and stats.
A fiery spell from Mahmood
Mahmood breathed fire with the new ball as he snared dashers like Brandon King, Evin Lewis, and Shimron Hetmyer to reduce the hosts to 18/3. Towards the end of the WI innings, the pacer sent back the dangerous-looking Gudakesh Motie, who made a fiery 14-33. Besides the pacer, leg-spinner Adil Rashid claimed three wickets.
100 T20 wickets for Mahmood
Mahmood, who claimed 4/34 in his quota of four overs, registered his career-best T20I figures. This four-fer took his tally to 13 wickets across 15 T20Is at an economy of 10.20. Notably, he went wicket-less in each of his previous three T20Is versus WI. Mahmood also completed 100 T20 wickets (now 103). Having played 79 games, he boasts an economy of 8.69 (4W: 4).
Three-fer for Rashid
Rashid returned with 3/32 in his four overs. With this, the veteran leg-spinner has raced to 125 wickets from 117 T20Is at an economy of 7.33. 35 of his wickets have come in 20 T20Is against WI at a fine economy of 5.94.
Salt powers England to victory
Despite Mahmood and Rashid's brilliance, WI managed to post a strong total while batting first (182/9). The likes of Nicholas Pooran (38 off 29) and Andre Russell (30 off 17), Romario Shepherd (35* off 22), and Gudakesh Motie (33 off 14) were among the runs. However, England comfortably chased down the total thanks to a sensational hundred from Philip Salt (103* off 54). Jacob Bethell, who scored his maiden T20I fifty (58*) also played well.
