Mumbai: Opener Jay Bista’s half century went in vein as England continued their winning streak in warm-ups of World T20, defeating Mumbai by 14 runs at the Brabourne Stadium here ahead of their tournament opener on March 16.
Electing to bat, England posted 177 for eight and then restricted Mumbai to 163 for six in their allotted 20 overs.
Four England players — James Vince, Jos Buttler, David Willey and Adil Rashid — were a part of the Mumbai team. England openers — Jason Roy (32 off 21 balls) and Alex Hales (37 off 23 balls) — gave the team a good start and then Joe Root, who walked in at number 3, top scored with a 34-ball 48 that included three fours and two sixes, to help the visitors reach a competitive total. Although skipper Eoin Morgan (11) fell cheaply, Root coupled with Ben Strokes (30) to share 69-run stand for the fourth wicket and ensured the side move past 150-run mark. It was a good practice for David Willy, who clinched a hat-trick in the last over of the England innings by dismissing Root, Moeen Ali and Chris Jordan. Willy was the most successful for Mumbai with figures of three for 35, while Shardul Thakur and Adil Rashid picked up two wickets each. Chasing a stiff 178-run target, Mumbai had a descent start with openers Jay Bista and skipper Shreyas Iyer (16) putting on 57 runs for the first wicket. Bista scored a quickfire 51 off just 37 deliveries. After Iyer’s dismissal, Bista and James Vince (45) rotated the strike and hit the bad balls away as they stitched a 48-run stand together for the second wicket. Bista, soon after completing his fifty, was caught by Reece Topley off Moeen Ali. England were poor in the field with couple of misfields, an overthrow which resulted in a boundary and a dropped catch. Their bowlers made a strong comeback in the fag end of game taking regular wickets. While Akil Herwadkar was cleaned up by Topley for mere seven, Chris Jordan cleaned up both the set batsman Vince and Jos Butler (25). Jordan and Topley took two wickets each, while Moeen Ali and Lian Plunkett took wicket apiece as England eked out a narrow win in the end. Brief Scores: England: 177 for eight in 20 overs (Joe Root 48, Alex Hales 37; David Willy 3/35, Adil Rashid 2/33). Mumbai: 163 for six in 20 overs (Jay Bista 51, James Vince 45; Reece Topley 2/26, Chris Jordan 2/34). — PTI
