With England gearing up to meet West Indies, Darren Sammy and Jos Buttler share their opinions with regards to the risk-reward ratio ahead of the high-octane clash. There has been talks of teams pushing the envelope of scoring, but so far there have been only two totals over 200 and just one over 210 in the T20 World Cup 2026.
“I think generally in World Cups, you see teams play the percentages a little more, maybe not risk as much,” explains Buttler. “You just need one more run than the opposition on that day on that given surface. And that’s the most important thing in tournament cricket, especially,” said Buttler, himself a big-hitter and a big name in the T20 circuit. Then went on to speak about the 2016 contest and put it in the present context. “Chris Gayle is the best T20 batter there’s ever been so yeah ten years ago obviously hopefully the result can be different tomorrow night.”
Daren Sammy was more forthright on the scores, saying the West Indies do not aim for a par total but target for some runs above the par total. “I’m not trying to score 300. I’m trying to play the conditions. It’s all well and good before the tournament. You have an idea of what you want to do. But at the end of the day, when you go and play, what the surface dictates, you try to get an extra 20 runs if you can. If the par score is 190, you try to get 220 to give you some cushion with the ball when you bowl. But we don’t plan our batting in trying to score 300,” the West Indies coach said.
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