Cricket-Jordan grabs hat-trick to set England up for a place in T20 semi-finals

By John Mehaffey

(Reuters) – Pace bowler Chris Jordan celebrated his return to the England side with a hat-trick on Sunday in the land of his birth to set the defending champions up for a crushing 10 wicket victory over the United States and a place in the T20 World Cup semi-finals.

After dismissing the United States for 115 from 18.5 overs in their final Super Eight group match, England captain Jos Butler (83 not out), who effortlessly lofted five sixes in an over off left-arm slow bowler Harmeet Singh, and Phil Salt (25 not out), stroked their way to 117 without loss from 9.4 overs.

After being asked to bat first, the United States lost their last five wickets in six balls.

Jordan, who had replaced Mark Wood, began the 19th over by having Corey Anderson caught at long-on by Harry Brook. Two balls later he clean bowled Ali Khan, then trapped Nosthush Kenjige lbw and bowled Saurabh Netravalkar to complete his hat-trick, all three falling without scoring.

Jordan finished with four for 10 from 2.5 overs following another masterclass in wrist spin from Adil Rashid, who was named man-of-the-match.

Rashid took two for 13 from his four overs, including the prize wicket of captain Aaron Jones who was bowled for 10 completely misjudging a googly which spun back to hit his stumps.

Nitish Kumar top-scored with 30 and former New Zealand all-rounder Anderson struck some belligerent shots late in the innings but it was all far too little too late on an excellent batting surface at the Kensington Oval.

“Very nice to do this at a special place like this,” said Jordan. “I thought we worked out the conditions well. Rashid came on and controlled one end and the way Livi (Jason Livingstone) bowled set the game up.”

After Butler won the toss and opted to field first Andries Gous flicked the fourth ball from left-arm paceman Reece Topley’s first over for a six over the fine leg boundary but was caught for eight attempting a similar shot from the final delivery.

Jofra Archer, also representing England in the country of his birth, opened from the other end, conceding a six when Kumar was late on his hook shot and the ball took the top edge and flew over the third man boundary.

A more authentic shot from Topley’s second over soared over long-on for another six.

Left-arm paceman Sam Curran took over from Archer and struck with his third ball, dismissing Steven Taylor caught at point by Moeen Ali for 12, his 50th ODI wicket.

Rashid then bowled Jones and at the halfway stage the American side were precariously placed at 65 for three. They were never to recover as Livingstone, with his mixture of wrist and finger spin, was almost as effective from the other end, capturing one for 24 from his four overs.

“I thought if we could bring our intensity we’d be too good,” Butler said. “We’ve got great options, we wanted to bring Chris Jordan back, he adds a bit of depth with his batting capabilities as well. A world cup hat-trick is a great effort.”

(Reporting by John Mehaffey, editing by Pritha Sarkar)