"The conditions were different": Jos Buttler on 4-wicket loss to West Indies in 5th T20I
Dec 22, 2023
Tarouba [Trinidad], December 22 : After a four-wicket defeat in the fifth T20I match against West Indies on Friday, England's skipper Jos Buttler said that the conditions were different at the Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Buttler said that 160 runs in the first inning would have been a good score to defend and they did hang in there in the match.
He added that they would learn from the series and would try to rectify their mistakes in the upcoming series. Buttler added that they had a "fantastic" series against West Indies and would have been happy if they won it.
"The conditions were different. 160 could have been a good score to defend. We did well to hang in there. Had we got a few more runs to play, could have been different. As a team, we would take the learnings. Everyone got a hang of the new rule pretty quickly. The breeze plays a big part here. We have had a fantastic series, would have loved to win it," Buttler said.
Recapping the match, after winning the toss, West Indies asked England to bat first at the Brian Lara Stadium.
English opener Philip Salt (38 runs from 22 balls) failed to continue his remarkable form but still smashed 5 fours and 1 six. Liam Livingstone (28 runs from 29 balls) and Moeen Ali (23 balls from 21 balls) also tried to boost the visitors' run rate. But the English side did not fare too well against the West Indies bowling attack and could only score 132/10 in 19.3 overs.
Gudakesh Motie led the home side's bowling attack and bagged three wickets in his four-over spell. After two disappointing matches, the Caribbean bowlers prevailed in the fifth T20I match.
In the run chase, West Indies opener Johnson Charles (27 runs from 22 balls) started well to set the tone of the game. Later, Hope (43* runs from 43 balls) and Sherfane Rutherford (30 runs from 24 balls) made a crucial partnership to chase the target. Hope stayed on the crease till the last moment and ended the game by smashing a six-over deep cover.
Reece Topley and Adil Rashid took two wickets each in their respective spells.
