Phil Salt smashes second successive hundred as England rack up 267
Salt’s 119 was his country’s highest T20 international knock.
Phil Salt followed up his match-winning century in Grenada with a record-breaking hundred in Trinidad as England amassed their highest-ever T20 score, putting the West Indies to the sword.
Having been overlooked at the Indian Premier League auction on Tuesday, Salt smashed 10 sixes and seven fours in his 119 off 57 balls at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba in England’s 267 for three.
Salt’s belligerent knock is the highest by an England batter – beating the previous record held by Alex Hales on 116 – as the tourists took a giant stride towards levelling the five-match series at 2-2.
England’s previous best score in this format was the 241 for three they posted against New Zealand in Napier in November 2019 but Jos Buttler’s side blew that total out of the water.
Buttler registered 55 off 29 balls, putting on 117 in 9.5 overs with Salt, while Liam Livingstone added an unbeaten 54 off 21 deliveries as England racked up the fifth highest score in this format.
Four days on from his 109 not out at the weekend which helped England keep the series alive, Salt transferred his form to another Caribbean island, bringing up back-to-back tons off 48 balls.
There was no respite for the Windies on a hot and sticky afternoon, with T20 debutant Matthew Forde leaking 54 from three overs and Jason Holder and Gudakesh Motie each conceding 55 from four overs.
Akeal Hosein was the pick of the attack with one for 36 from his allocation but the hosts have been left it all to do to stop the series from going to a decider – no team has chased down more than 259.
