Rutherford, Holder & spinners shape West Indies’ 30-run win over England

MUMBAI: Warming up for his maiden stint with the Mumbai Indians in IPL-2026, Sharfane Rutherford hammered seven massive sixes and a four in a dazzling, career-best 76 not out off just 42 balls to star in West Indies’ 30-run win over England in their Group C match at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday night.

After Rutherford and former captain and veteran allrounder Jason Holder’s power-packed cameo- 33 off 17 balls, with four sixes and a four, took a relentless West Indies to formidable 196 for six, it was the turn of their spinners-Gudakesh Motie (3-33 in four overs) and Roston Chase (2-29 in four overs, scored 34 off 29 balls, with six fours earlier) and Akeal Hosein (1-32 in four overs), who took six wickets between themselves to choke England, especially in the middle overs and bowled them out for 166 in 19 overs.



Having logged back-to-back wins, West Indies are now well-poised for the Super Eights, while England, who somehow scrapped through against Nepal at the same venue, have some soul-searching to do.

Sam Curran (37 not out, 64 b, 2x4, 2x6), Jacob Bethell (33, 23b, 5x4, 1x6), who lost his off-stump to a Motie beauty that skidded off the pitch, and Phil Salt (30, 14b, 4x4, 2x6) produced some fireworks, but, pulling off a few brilliant catches and a run out (direct hit by Holder), a determined West Indies were too good on the night.

At 128 for five in the 15th over, West Indies looked to be falling short of a par total, but the Rutherford-Jason Holder alliance put on 61 in 32 balls for the sixth wicket to help the West Indies finish with a flourish in a highly entertaining innings.

A 21,314-strong crowd-which includes supporters of both the teams and many locals- enjoyed the typical Caribbean flair that was on show at the Wankhede, as the West Indians, batting with gay abandon on a relatively small ground, smashed as many as 13 sixes on the night, each of them struck powerfully.

Pulling Jamie Overton (2-33 in four overs), who replaced fellow pacer Luke Wood, for a four and six, Rutherford reached his half-century off 29 balls in the 16th over. Holder pumped three sixes off Sam Curran-first two back-to-back, a check-drive over long off and then a swat over long on followed by a ferocious pull to deep mid-wicket. It means that Curran- England’s bowling hero in their thrilling win over Nepal, went for 20 in the 17th over-the costliest of the innings.

Overton finally had Holder caught at long on, but not before the marauding pair tonked a six each off him, the final one by Rutherford straight down the ground while signing off. West Indies were 77 for four in the 10th over, but blasted off 119 in 63 balls- a phase which swung the fate of the game completely.

Taking two for 16 in four overs, leg-spinner Adil Rashid bowled superbly, while also reaching the 400–wickets landmark in T20 cricket.

However, he and England would rue that he grassed two chances that Rutherford offered, a slightly tougher one off a top edge in the 13th over off Jofra Archer when he was on 23, which went for a six as Rashid sprinted from third man, and a comparatively easier one off his own bowling in the 18th over, when the explosive left-hander skied a ball while he batting on 56.

West Indies lost their openers Shai Hope (0) and Brandon King (1) in just the first seven balls of the match, with the score reading eight for two. However, in came Shimron Hetmeyer, who had smashed 64 off 36 balls in the last match against Scotland at Kolkata, and set the tone of the innings with a 12-ball 23 which includes two sixes and as many fours.

With West Indies batters going berserk at a venue on which ‘Mr Universe’ Chris Gayle had blasted 11 sixes in a match-winning 48-ball hundred that shaped the Caribbeans win over England in a 2016 T20 World Cup match, one got a deja vu feeling.

What would worry England is the extremely poor form of their premier pacer Jofra Archer, who went for 1-42 against Nepal at the same venue and leaked 1-48 in four overs on Wednesday, struggling on the flat Wankhede pitch.



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