Twitter Reactions: Jos Buttler special steers England into semis as USA succumb in Barbados

Jos Buttler. (Source – Getty Images)

United States of America and England locked horns in Match 49 of the T20 World Cup 2024 at the Kensington Oval in Barbados on June 23. England won the toss and opted to bowl first. Andries Gouse was dismissed early but Steven Taylor and Nitish Kumar built the innings as they scored 12 and 30 respectively. Aaron Jones and Milind Kumar were sent packing by Aadil Rashid and Liam Livingstone. Corey Anderson and Harmeet Singh kept the scorecard ticking with their 29 and 21 respectively.

Chris Jordan, bowling the 19th over spoiled the USA’s ploy to capitalize in death overs and claimed four wickets in a span of five deliveries. Meanwhile, he also struck a hat-trick and England restricted the USA to a meagre total of 115 runs. For England, Sam Curran and Rashid pitched in with two wickets each while Reece Topley and Livingstone claimed a wicket apiece.

Also Read: T20 World Cup 2024: United States of America vs England, 49th Match – Who Said What?

Jos Buttler unleashes mayhem in Kensington Oval

England’s chase was nothing short of a statement going into the semi-final of the T20 World Cup. Their openers, Phil Salt and Jos Buttler, chased the target with 10.2 overs remaining as USA were left gasping for air. While Salt played a subdued inning of unbeaten 25 off 21, Buttler was in no mood to spare the novices. He smashed Harmeet Singh for five sixes in the 9th over, which included four consecutive sixes. He ended up with a strike rate of over 218 in his 38 balls 83 runs knock. 

“We give USA a lot of respect and we talked about if, if we brought our intensity, we would be too good. Once we got in a few overs, we tried to target this side with the wind. Adil was fantastic and Livi bowled brilliantly in tandem, it’s difficult when you are not bowling in one game and then suddenly you bowl 4 overs, credit to him for being ready,” said Buttler in the post-match presentation.

“We have great options, today we wanted to bring in CJ to bring depth to our batting and a World Cup hat-trick is a great effort. I have been feeling good all year, to be honest. I feel I’m hitting the ball well and it’s on me to look after my own game, as much as I’m the captain, I’m one of the 11 and I have got to do my job,” he added.

Here’s how ‘X’ users reacted to ENG’s win over USA in Match 49: