West Indies' title defence begins on disastrous note, bundled out for 55 by England

Adil Rashid was the pick of England bowlers with figures of 4/2 from 2.2 overs while Moeen Ali and Tymal Mills took two wickets apiece.

Dubai:Spinners Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid demolished the West Indies batting line up as England skittled out the defending champions for just 55 runs in a Super 12 Group 1 match of the T20 World Cup here on Saturday.

It was expected to be an exciting battle between the West Indies' flair and a capable England attack but was reduced to a no-contest following a horrendous batting display by the defending champions.

The West Indies batters only looked for big shots and that became their undoing as they seemed to have forgot that rotating the strike was important when boundaries were difficult to come by.

England bowlers were persistent with their line and length and were rewarded as West Indies managed their second lowest T20 total after 45 they made against the same opponents in 2019.

It was also the third lowest total in T20 World Cup behind 39 and 44 (both by Netherlands).

Rashid gave away just two runs in the 14 balls he bowled and wiped off the middle and lower order, carrying forward the good start Moeen had provided after Eoin Morgan invited the Caribbeans to bat.

Moeen ended his spell in a splendid manner, bowling as many as 18 dot balls in his four overs while conceding just 17 runs.

West Indies batters kept looking for boundaries and they fell by the way side one after another.

Chris Gayle (13) was the only batter who got to the double digits.

Moeen was involved in a terrific battle with the West Indies batters after he opened the attack.

Lendl Simmons (3) and Shimron Hetmyer opened their arms against him but the off-spinner succeeded in sending them back to the dug out.

Chris Woakes, on the other end, bowled a tight spell and also got rid of Evin Lewis (6) while Tymal Mills saw the back of dangerous Gayle, who hit three shots to the fence but could not execute the big shot off the pacer.

But none showed patience that was required to stay on the dry wicket that was offering some assistance to the spinners.

PTI