By Samuel Peters
England claimed a massive landslide victory over the United States of America beating them by 10 wickets and 10 overs to spare when the two clashed in Barbados for the first time in their cricketing history and in the World Cup.
The English had the advantage from the toss by choosing to bowl, quickly setting back their opponents in the very first over with the score at nine for one.
With the introduction of Adil Rashid, runs were hard to come by and England were able to pick up wickets at regular intervals.
A few handy knocks came from the bats of Nitesh Kumar 30 and Corey Anderson 29 but it was the England bowlers that dominated as Barbados born Chris Jordan collected four for 10 runs including a hat trick on his home turf. Rashid had two for 13 and Sam Curran two for 23 with the USA side being bowled out in 19.2 overs for 115.
England started circumspectly with the first two overs going for just six runs. But Captain Jos Butler had enough and took 19 out of Saurabh Netravalker over which was the third of the innings.
He provided the impetus needed for England to secure their semifinal spot by smashing five sixes in one over off of Harmeet Singh to help England finish the game in 9.4 overs reaching 117 without loss. Their Net Run Rate of 1.992 has superseded the rates of West Indies and South Africa who will clash in the next match.
It therefore means that the match played between the two will be a virtual quarter final where the winner will go to the semifinals.
