MUMBAI: Left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie tore the heart out of England’s much-vaunted middle order Wednesday as the West Indies won by 30 runs in their T20 World Cup clash in Mumbai.

The West Indies scored 196-6 largely thanks to Sherfane Rutherford’s brutal unbeaten 76 and some late hitting from Jason Holder.

In reply England were all out for 166 in 19 overs.

They made a brisk start to the chase before Motie, who varies between left-arm orthodox and wrist spin, bamboozled Tom Banton, Jacob Bethell and captain Harry Brook (17) in a brilliant spell of 3-33.

It pegged back England from a comfortable 85-2 in the eighth over to 131-5 in the 14th when Brook departed.

Sam Curran kept them in the hunt with a brave unbeaten 43 off 30 balls before he ran out of partners.

It was the second win from two for the West Indies and puts them in pole position to qualify for the Super Eights from Group C.

England got off to the perfect start in their chase when opener Phil Salt carted Jason Holder’s first over for 24 with two sixes and three fours as they raced to 31-0 off 12 balls.

Salt fell for 30 in the fourth over off Romario Shepherd.

England sped to 67-1 at the end of the six-over power play, with Jos Buttler on 15 and Bethell 20.

Buttler hit a six off Roston Chase but perished trying to repeat the damage.

Banton (2) was out cheaply and when Bethell (33) followed soon after, both to Motie, Engl­and were in bother at 90-4.

Motie then captured the prize wicket of Brook in his final over to leave England 131-5 off 14.

For the West Indies, sixth-wicket pair Rutherford, who hit seven sixes and two fours, and Jason Holder (33, four sixes, one four) hammered 61 in 32 balls in the dying overs.

Jofra Archer had struck in the first over of the match when captain Shai Hope slapped him straight to Banton at cover.

It was soon 8-2 when Brandon King tried to smash Curran’s first ball but could only find Salt at deep cover.

Chase hit spinner Will Jacks for three fours and Shimron Hetmyer joined in with a huge six as the fifth over went for 19.

Hetmyer top-edged Overton to fine leg to leave the West Indies 55-3.

When Adil Rashid trapped Chase, on 34, Windies had slip­­ped to 77-4 in the 10th over.

Powell and Rutherford put on 50 in just 26 balls but Rashid’s reintroduction immediately bore fruit as Powell hol­­ed out to Overton.

Rutherford sailed on and brought up his fifty in 29 balls with a four and a six off Overton.

Curran was pummelled for 20 off his third over.

Scoreboard

WEST INDIES:

B. King c Salt b Curran 1

S. Hope c Banton b Archer 0

S. Hetmyer c Curran b Overton 23

R. Chase lbw b Rashid 34

S. Rutherford not out 76

R. Powell c Overton b Rashid 14

J. Holder c Banton b Overton 33

R. Shepherd not out 1

EXTRAS (LB-4, W-10) 14

TOTAL (for six wickets, 20 overs) 196

DID NOT BAT: A. Hosein, G. Motie,

S. Joseph

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-8 (Hope), 2-8 (King), 3-55 (Hetmyer), 4-77 (Chase), 5-128 (Powell), 6-189 (Holder)

BOWLING: Archer 4-0-48-1 (3w), Curran 3-0-36-1, Jacks 2-0-32-0, Overton 4-0-33-2, Rashid 4-0-16-2 (1w), Dawson 3-0-27-0 (2w)

ENGLAND:

P. Salt c Rutherford b Shepherd 30

J. Buttler c Powell b Chase 21

J. Bethell b Motie 33

T. Banton c King b Motie 2

H. Brook c&b Motie 17

Sam Curran not out 43

W. Jacks lbw b Chase 2

J. Overton c Powell b Hosein 5

J. Archer run out 6

L. Dawson run out 1

A. Rashid c Chase b Joseph 0

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-5) 6

TOTAL (all out, 19 overs) 166

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-38 (Salt), 2-74 (Buttler), 3-85 (Banton), 4-90 (Bethell), 5-131 (Brook), 6-134 (Jacks), 7-141 (Overton), 8-151 (Archer), 9-161 (Dawson)

BOWLING: Hosein 4-0-32-1, Holder 2-0-34-0, Shepherd 1-0-7 -1 (1w), Joseph 4-0-30-1, Chase 4-0-29-2 (2w), Motie 4-0-33-3

RESULT: West Indies won by 30 runs.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Sherfane Rutherford

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2026