Phil Salt responds to IPL auction snub with record-shattering century; England draw level with West Indies
Phil Salt has become the second-ever player from an ICC full-member nation to score back-to-back hundreds in T20I cricket after South Africa's Rilee Rossouw. Salt's magnificent ton helped England to come into the series from behind.
England's emerging T20I sensation Phil Salt responded with a record-breaking century in the 4th T20I against West Indies at the Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad following his IPL auction snub and helped England draw level with the hosts on Wednesday, December 20.
Salt aggregated 119 runs off 57 balls and went past Alex Hales to notch up the highest individual score for England in T20I cricket and helped the visitors trump the Windies by 75 runs.
Though he failed to attract any bidders at the IPL 2024 auction, Salt hogged the limelight at the Brian Lara Stadium as England posted the second-highest T20I score by an ICC full-member nation after being invited to bat first.
The 21-year-old moved past Liam Livingstone to score the most hundreds (2) for England in T20Is and also pipped the latter to smash the most sixes (10) for England in a T20I innings.
The Bodelwyddan-born also shattered Hales' England record for collecting the most runs in boundaries in a T20I innings as he accumulated 88 runs in total against the hapless Windies attack.
While Salt was unstoppable, his skipper Jos Buttler too launched an onslaught early on and took the West Indian bowling attack to task.
Buttler scored 55 runs off 29 balls to rack up a 117-run stand for the opening wicket in just 59 balls. Buttler's power-packed performance saw him ease past his former teammate Eoin Morgan in terms of players to hit the most number of sixes (123) in T20Is for England.
In reply, West Indies tried to match England's batting tempo but fell short as barring Andre Russell (51 off 25 balls) no one could last long enough to steer them closer to the target.
But the West Indian batters threw enough punches to set up a few more records and entertain the crowd that had gathered at the venue to relish the game.
West Indies' reply of 192 took the overall match aggregate to 459 - the highest between the two teams in T20I history. The match witnessed 33 maximums - the third most number of sixes ever recorded in T20I history.
The five-match series now hangs in balance 2-2 with the decider to be played at the same venue on Thursday.