Test Match Special - Records tumble as England hit 300 in T20

Episode Date: September 13, 2025

Alison Mitchell presents reaction from Old Trafford to England becoming the first Test-playing nation to hit 300 in a T20 international.Phil Salt reflects on his record-breaking knock of 141 from just 60 balls, which is also the fastest T20 hundred for England at just 39 balls. Plus, England captain Harry Brook gives his thoughts on the performance.England World Cup winners Dawid Malan and Alex Hartley analyse the victory, which saw England hit 48 boundaries in their innings.

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from BBC Radio 5 Live Hello, I'm Alison Mitchell and welcome to the TMS podcast where England's men break record after record to reach 300 in a T20 international a feat that's never been achieved before by a test playing nation. Salt on 99, Rabada in, balls, leg side,

in the air, bouncing in front of the fielder and he'll come back for two and he will reach a century and it's the fastest T20 century for England. Breathtaking batting by Phil Salt. Here is Janssen in again. Hit high, down the ground.

Over the rope. Six more. They've not just bettered their previous T20 international total. They are now marmalising it. Right, Rabada moves in. England on 299 for 2. Brooke gets a full delivery, strokes it out towards point, brings up the 300 for England.

A record total. No test playing nation has ever scored. ever scored 300 in a T20 international. To come, we'll hear from the record-breaking Phil Saltz and England Captain Harry Brooke. Plus, we'll have analysis from World Cup winners David Manlan and Alex Hartley on a punishing performance by England's batters. You're listening to the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live.

So a record-breaking night for England here at Old Trafford in the second of the T20 International, still one to go. The series is now level. at one apiece. But the story of the night, well, it was all about Phil Salt. As England piled up 304 for two, the biggest total for any test playing nation in a T20 international. Phil Salt hit the fastest T20 International 100 by an England cricketer, the 100 coming off just 39 balls. He went on to make an unbeaten 141. So he carried his bat for 141 off 60 balls. And That is the highest individual score by any England cricketer in a T20 International.

He not only beat his own score of 119. He already held that record in men's cricket, but he passed Danny Wyatt's 124 as well. So that record went. He struck 15 fours and eight sixes in just a punishing belligerent display of ball striking. Joss Butler, 83 from 30. They had a fabulous partnership of 126 of the first eight. over. Jacob Bethel, with 26, came in, played his role alongside Phil Salt, and Harry Brooke, 41 off 21 at the end, a punishing night for the South African bowlers, the South Africa run chase. Well, they didn't give up. They came out and gave it a good go, but the winning margin, 146 runs, as they were all out for 158 in 16.1 with Will Jacks popping up with a potential hat-trick ball as well to almost cap off a, and it would have been an extraordinary night if he had done that as well. Archer finishing with three for 25, Sam Curran picking up a couple, two for 11, and Liam Dawson, two for 34, off his 3.1 overs and Will Jacks with those two wickets for two runs in the one over that he bowled.

I'm alongside David Malan, T20 World Cup winner and somebody who has hit a very rapid T20 International 100 of your own, David, and Alex Hartley here, World Cup winner as well. How can you sum up that night, I suppose, the context Phil Salt's achievement here against this South African side? It's not very often you play the perfect game in cricket. And I would say England had played the perfect game there. Score 300, an opposition team out for 160, I think it was. 158, yeah, 160 odd. You couldn't have written that any better from a coaching point of view or a player's point of view. But for Phil Salt to go and score his fourth T20 International 100, what a day for him.

He went out from ball one, especially after getting a first baller in the last game. I know it was a shortened game, but he walked out, got a first bowler. and he hit the first three balls of the game for boundaries. And when you start off like that and you create that momentum and you take the game on like you do, it puts the opposition to so much pressure. So all credit to him and the way him and Joss Butler sort of dovetailed each other, Phil Sol got off to an absolute flyer,

then Joss Butler stole the show. So all credit to them, to have an opening partnership that scored over 100 runs at the speed that they did was unbelievable. It was breathtaking, Alex, wasn't it? Yeah, it was. It was entertaining. It's not often that you see both openers get off to a first. flyer like you did this evening. It was one of those days where after 10 overs, it was almost like, what are England going to get here? And, you know, we joked on air about, are they going

to get 300? They did slow down a little bit and then they accelerated again. And I think the thing for me, you know, Bethel came in, didn't face a ball for a while. First ball knocked down the ground for one. Then he, you know, just kept getting Phil Salt on strike. And then he was like, right, I want a bit of this. Next two balls he hit down the ground for six off the skipper. So it was, as Malo just had the perfect game of cricket for England. It's not South Africa's strongest or first choice bowling attack, but still to do this against, you know, Rabada was still playing. Yes, Marco Janssen, albeit coming back from a bit of a layoff

and an injury and surgery for him, you know, 19-year-old there in Kuenhamapaka, but, you know, other teams will face bowling attacks like this and get nowhere near 300. Oh, 100%. You still have to score them, no matter who you play against. And you can talk about the quality of attack and we can talk about what. You still have to be able to hit the ball for. four and six consistently and England managed to do that but I think that's a big awakening for a couple of the young players in South Africa that probably

haven't played as much that's a welcome to international T20 cricket if you get it wrong and a good wicket with with the best players in the world you're going to come up against it but yeah look you know when you when you watch it Jansen you see Janssen and Kegisa Rabata too the best that South Africa have in this format travel that much you can just see the quality of the wicket and the quality of the batters they came up against and David you're in in and amongst those scores for the fastest T20 international hundreds for England. You don't like to talk about it or to blow your own trumpet,

but you hit a 48 ball hundred against New Zealand in 2019. What would it have felt like for Phil Salt there when he's just creaming it and you sort of get closer to these landmarks? Are you aware of how quick you're scoring? Well, I think sometimes when you're in the zone, you don't actually notice where you're at. I think there would have probably been a period in the game where all he's thinking about is hitting every ball for four and six

and the next time he's looked up he's probably got to 85 or 90 or whatever it is. And to be on a free hit when you're on 99 as well, what feeling. That's what everyone dreams of. When you're playing for your country and you go, I can score 100 here and not get out. That's how good it is. But look, I know he's had that feeling a couple of times because this is his fourth innings, but that would still feel like the first one. As I said, he got a nought in that first game.

He'd have probably felt the pressure. He's not playing 50 over cricket anymore. There's a lot of guys that have been given opportunities to open the batting and bat up the order in different formats. So for him to go after the last game and get 140 and play the way he did so convincingly, hardly miss hit a ball, took the game on from ball one, perfect game of cricket for him. Let's hear from Mr Recordbreaker himself, Phil Salt. He's been reflecting on his incredible innings, 141 not out of 60, fastest T-2000 by an England cricketer with Stefan Schemmelt.

141 not out of 60 deliveries, well batted. How are you feeling? Yeah, I'm delighted. They're really nice to do that at Old Trafford with it being my home ground but even more plays we've got 300 and won by such a convincing margin Why were you able to do that

tonight and hit the ball so cleanly in the manner that you've just done? I'd like to think that it comes from preparation and working hard it is a sport of fine margins as we saw the other night in Cardiff you know that first ball everything could have been so different

but it wasn't so you've got to crack on. So, you know, I think a bit of both. Does that sum up the life of a T20 opener? Golden Duck, two nights ago, 140 tonight, that you have to be able to ride those highs and lows? Yeah, exactly that. You know, it's more of a challenge upstairs than it is,

you know, hitting a ball or catching a ball. So, yeah, I think that's probably the toughest part of the job at times. But, you know, really pleased to bounce back, being one-nill down and give us a win like that. There'll be a lot of people listening to this who've played cricket at a number of levels who want to know what that feeling is like when maybe the ball is hit in the middle all the time

or when you might be thinking you could hit anything for four or six. What was it like being in that sort of zone this evening? You tend not to take notice of it being brutally honest. One ball at a time and when I do my process as well I'm getting my routines right.

I don't really notice. It's just the runs go up a little bit quicker than normal. That's the only thing. So it's not this sense of euphoria some people playing a weekend might believe I'm a little bit more focused on other things You've got four T20 international hundreds now

Only two men have got more Rowett Sharma and Glenn Maxwell It's quite some company Yeah, I suppose it is You know And I want a few more realistically Not to look too far ahead But it's a great feeling scoring hundreds for England

And I want it to continue Competition for places as well You can't do much more than what you've done this evening Yeah I don't worry about that being honest you know I've had a good couple of years leading into this and you know if I keep performing like that and then keep working as hard as I can I'm gonna be in a good place and just finally this white ball team has been through some highs and lows recently tonight's light tonight show what you're capable of when it

all clicks yeah I think my international record speaks for itself the team as a whole though there's been some ups and downs yeah there's been some ups and downs but that's that's the game you know everybody's got, you know, the two pennies to add when it's going well and, you know, even more when it's not going so well. That is professional sport, but, you know, you can't ride the highs and lows like that. You've got to stay focused in on what you're doing and what you're trying to achieve as an individual and as a team. And just finally, for you and Josh to do what you've done on your home ground, does that make it even more special? Yeah, I love batting with

Josh. I think we had one of the, I think we had the best, if not, you know, one of the best partnerships in international cricket for a while when we were opening. So it's nice for him to come back up. I don't know how long that's going to be for, you know, because Josh is so good at three as well. But I'm loving opening the bat with him. Thanks, Phil. We're battered. Thanks, mate.

The TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. The Dakar Rally is the ultimate off-road challenge. Perfect for the ultimate defender. The high-performance defender, Octa. 26 horsepower twin turbo V8 engine and intelligent 6D dynamics air suspension. Learn more at Landrover.ca. For him personally, does that send a bit of a message about the 50-over team? Oh, look, you've got to just keep scoring runs.

I don't think he's necessarily thinking about that 50-over team right now. You know, he's probably just thinking I'll play the cricket that I can. But of course it sends a message. Any time you play cricket and score runs, it sends a message. You know, England keeps saying that your currency is scoring runs. while he's just scored 100 off not very many balls tonight. And just on that point, I've actually been in that position where you've only playing one format of the game in T20 cricket.

You look at a series and you think I've got three games. You get a washout in the first one. You know you've got two more and you have to take every opportunity you can because you can't go back to the 50 over game as Jacob Bethel did and get 100 and silence people and then go into the next format. It's just prized the 23 World Cup. Exactly, yeah.

And you're in a situation where you know you have to score runs in every single innings. And Phil Salt will be in that position. where he's only playing one format of the game. He'll get judged on domestic cricket as much as he can because there's other players coming through doing well in other formats. So for him to come and score 140, unbelievable for him, and it would have put his mind, I wouldn't say he'd probably have felt the pressure himself, but he would probably have been under pressure from other aspects of the world

and the sense of what we have. But it does make it a lot sweeter for him doing that. The one thing for Salt as well, the next T20 World Cup, well, the next World Cup is a T20 World Cup in February. So it's almost like, let me just concentrate. concentrate on this and then my cricket will do the talking leading into the next 50 of a World Cup. It is only one game in this series. It's such a shortened game in Cardiff, but still got Trent Bridge to come on Sunday. Where is it leaving this England team at the moment with an eye

on the T20 World Cup? We know obviously there's no Duckett and no Jamie Smith now in this particular series. Yeah, I don't think you'll get these conditions in India. Well, you might do it in some of the wickets, but I don't think it was a very good pitch. Exactly. I don't think it'll be this flat in India. I think they end up turning a bit and you use, used ones, especially in World Cups. You end up reusing wickets as well. It's really weird. You only get two strips and so on. So that might play a place.

But I think the key for England now is how they back it up. They've done a perfect game, as I've summed it up. Now, the next thing is going to Trembridge, which hopefully it'll be another flat one, and it'd be a really good wicket for England. And if they get put in again, the challenges, can they do it again? Can they back it up? Or is it just going to be a blowout like they did in the 50 over where they score 400 and they go missing in the other two? So hopefully they can back it up and the same guys can put the hand up.

You know, Joss Butler puts his hand up every series. I mean, he's the most consistent battle I've ever seen in T20 cricket for the way he plays. He's not an accumulator. He's someone who takes the game on. And he's always found a way. But it's just whether the rest of the guys, there's a young team that are still building and finding the way, whether they can do that consistently. Because in the World Cup, you're going to have to win three or four games just to get to the quarterfinals,

semi-finals. Let's just remind you, or give you some of those records and the leaderboard, if you like, for those highest individual scores in T20 cricket for England, because Phil Salt now, with his fourth hundred, owns four of the top six highest scores for England in T20 International. He leads the way with an unbeat in 141. That's above his own 119 against the West Indies in 2023. Alex Hales, with an unbeaten 116 against Sri Lanka in 2014.

So it's going back a little bit. And then Salt again, an unbeaten 109 against the West Indies in 2023, that same tour. then New David with the 103 not out that was the 48-400 against New Zealand in Napier 2019 and then Salt again alongside Livingston so Salt I'm beaten on 103 Livingston 103 against West Indies

in Bridgetown for Salt in 2024 so yeah it's quite a quite a number of those records he's got at the top to occupy four of the top six highest scores for England in 2020 internationals also just shows once he gets in he so hard to get out as well and he scores incredibly quickly He doesn't slow down.

He, I don't think he strikes me as a bloke that if he's in his 80s, he's going to go, right, I can get another 100. He's going to go, no, I'm batting this way. I'm going to carry on that way. And he gets the reward for it, you know, and he's incredibly, well, the way you watch him and the way he strikes the ball. You're just like, I don't want him to get out. I want to watch more. And that total, 304 for two, the biggest total by any test playing nation, in T20 International, the third country to pass 300 in all, behind. Zimbabwe, 344 for 4 is the highest total in any international T20 match.

That was against Gambia. And Nepal racked up 314 for 3 against Mongolia. So, you know, different sort of... We'll rank this one at the top. I think England will take it as the top. But Josh Butler at the halfway stage said he never thought that he would see that 300 in an international T20 between two test-playing nations as we've got here. So that just gives an indication, isn't it? Even in that dressing room, they are open-mouthed at their own achievements.

Yeah, and that's one of the things with England. They've always been wanting to push the ceiling. They never want to put a limit on the ceiling. So they're always trying to work out where the ceiling is. And that started under Owen Morgan and it continued under Just Butler and now Harry Brook. And for them to actually get that is unbelievable. I mean, I didn't think I'd ever see a 300 in T20 cricket. You think someone would hit one straight up and someone will bowl a good spell.

I know India came close against Bangladesh looking at those scores. I don't know where that was played. but to do that in the middle. Yeah, they had a 290 or didn't they? 290, yeah, and this was in the middle of the ground. At Old Trafford, big boundaries, they pushed out towards the side. It wasn't like there was a small boundary and hitting with the wind the majority of the time. So they've done it on a good ground.

I know the wicket played unbelievably well, but you still have to go and do it. And the way they did that consistently for 20 overs, even the baddest that came in, they kept the momentum up. They took good, positive options, smart options. Bethel got the strike. Harry Brooke came in when he had the wicket. He started from ball one. He tried all his scoops.

things he put South Africa off kept the pressure going and that's just yeah as I said earlier it's just the perfect game well let's hear from the England captain Harry Brooke he has been speaking to Stefan Shemmleton Harry you were a little bit frustrated a couple of nights ago a bit different tonight yeah a little bit frustrated the other night but that stuff was out of our control really tonight was just unbelievable and absolutely speechless we've hopefully broken a few records there and yeah that was a mega night I'm so pleased for salty Joss and and all the boys that are bowled out there tonight.

What was it like to be watching it? What was it like to be a part of in the middle? I was just sat in the dug-out and I was pretty chilled, but looking back and reflecting on it now, that was an extraordinary night of batting. And the way that them two have, like I said, I'm speechless, but the way that them two took it to the opposition tonight in the power play,

I think we were 105 or whatever off the power play. And I don't know if that's another record, but it's a phenomenal night. Third highest total by any team in a T20 international. Phil Salt, fastest 100 by an England player. England's record win in terms of runs. You guys have had some up and downs in White Bull Cricket, but does a night like tonight show what this team's capable of?

Yeah, absolutely. And that's an extreme tonight, but it's just another little snippet in another game of how dominant we can be. And in my eyes, I think we can be the most dominant team in the world going forward. We do everything that we have done tonight. no reason why we can't beat any team. Tell me about Phil Salt and what makes him the batter is, why he's capable of doing things like you did tonight? His ability to go out there tonight and hit his first ball for four, which was a risky shot. It was aerial. After getting a golden

duck the other night, that just sums up the type of player he is. He's selfless and he knows exactly what his role is. His role is to go out there in the power play and look to put their balls under pressure from the get-go and he did that perfectly today. How good for you as a captain? to see Josh Butler batting that way as well. Yeah, he's a phenomenal player. He has been for many years. To see the way that he took them to the sword as well was awesome. And yeah, he was in the limelight for a while, but then Salty overtook him tonight.

Listen, it's been a long summer for you, Harry. The only player who's played in every England game, and it must be quite tiring. But I guess nights like tonight, they give you energy to keep going, don't they? It's never tiring playing for your country. Obviously, there's times where you'd like a little rest, But every time I pull on England jersey, I'm buzzing to be out there and I want to try to do my best of the team. Yeah, as a 10-year-old looking up looking myself now, I'd just be mega proud of what I've done. And just to be stood here chatting to you now, as a 10-year-old looking up, looking now, would it be a dream come true.

And a decider on Sunday? Yeah, hopefully the weather stays away and we give it a good crack. Thank you, Mary. Thank you. Harry Brooke, a happy England captain, living out his dream at the moment. I mean, yeah, as he said it there, almost the perfect night. What stood out there is when he says we can be the most dominant team in the world. But to really be seen as the most dominant team in the world, it can't be these one-off matches.

You've got to string this together in a global tournament, haven't you, to win more trophies? You have to, yeah, and he seems to love a headline, doesn't he? Oh, Harry, whether he does it on purpose or not. He's definitely not doing it on purpose. We'll find out another day. But, yeah, look, I think the challenge is always to back it up. you can always have good games like this where everything clicks and everyone comes off and everything you try works but you know the challenge to win tournaments is to do it game in

game out you look at the the last world cup t20 world cup in in caribbean in the u.s England actually I think they had a rained out game but they actually played really well and then lost to one of the big nations and we're out so it doesn't matter what you do it's just about winning games of cricket consistently and so far this team hasn't done that yet they haven't consistently won series 3-0 and so on and that will come over time they're still a young team i know the world cups coming up and their new captain new new new coach they're building up for that but they have to find a method to do it pretty soon and if they can back this up on at nottingham it will give them a hell of a lot of confidence that they can do that

moving forward it is also adjusting to conditions isn't it and when they get to india in february it's going to be very very different to this yeah of course it's almost cardiff would have been a completely different wicket than we've had here at old traffic it would be completely different at Trent Bridge. So England can't go to Trent Bridge thinking they're going to score another 300. You've got to reset. And they've got enough experience in that dressing room to almost level them and almost say, OK, come on, lads, let's enjoy tonight because we should do.

And, you know, we've been record breakers and we've played a hell of a game of cricket. But settle, simmer down. We've got to do it again on Sunday. And what about the opposite camp? If you're Aidan Markram and the South Africa captain and you've just been on the end of England's record victory in terms of runs, 146 run walloping off the back of the Southampton win, which is also a record margin in any one day international. What are you saying to your team and how are you getting them together? Well, if I was the captain now, I'd shut it down straight away and just be like it's

one of those poor nights, move on. You telly books, crotes. Shambles. Shambles. It was a shambles tonight, lads. We bowed badly. We didn't bat very well. It was a bad day at the office at Leeds for England. There you go. Exactly. So you just, I would just shut it down. If you're going to go into the change room now and you're going to go and talk about it and you're going to bring up guys bad balls in the bad fields and whatever maybe you're just going to create yourself an environment where people are just going to switch off first and foremost and they're going to think it's just being picky because no one's meaning to bowl a bad ball no one's meaning to get out so the best thing you can do is just park this bit like harry brook said about the last game it's a

nothing game well not nothing game but it was a bit of a shambles park it move on come back stronger the next game don't dwell on it too much that that would be that would be the message reading the coaches Shukri Konrad's comments after the game he said he was going to have a good sit down and talk into to the players I don't know if that's still the right way to go it looked like it worked when they came up rocked up at Cardiff a few different personnel changes but yeah I just don't see the point in saying anything

you know him quite well what sort of personality is he in these situations yeah he can be a feisty character and he likes to be quite open with how he speaks you know he's he's been around a bit he's coached some good teams in South Africa. He's coached the SAA team for a long time. So he'd have been around these players. They would know how he works and he would know how they work.

And he would probably know what gets the best out of them. So whether he just says that for the camera to give them a bit of a kick up, the backside might be the way. But yeah, look, I think he rides it, a little bit like Mickey Arthur, he rides it a bit on his emotions and he'll let you know what he feels. But it's always a balanced message that he gives to you. Alex, do you think South Africa sort of acquitted themselves, fairly well considering what was coming out of them with the bat, the way they carried continued in the field

and the batting efforts in the face of such a steep target? I think the field, definitely. I think the field definitely. They didn't let their heads drop. It then, you know, there would have been a few lads that don't make eye contact with each other and he sort of stood out on the boundary going, I hope the ball doesn't come to me.

But the way they were charging around in the field is credit to them. You know, they could have quite easily have given up. And the second innings, for me, you can't really read too much into it because there's only one way you can go about that and it's to take advantage of the power play and to keep on swinging and get as close as you can.

But I think the captain set the standard at the top in Markram. 41 off 20, yeah. Yeah, and it was almost like, okay, he's doing it, let's all carry on. I don't know, it's a funny old game, isn't it? It is. I totally agree that I don't think you can look much into the batting. You're chasing 300. You're either getting it or it's bust.

It's just not going to happen. I would say I think they'd be very disappointed with the way they bowled. As well as Joss Butler, Phil Sol, Brooke, Bethel batted, I don't think they executed well tonight I think their fill placings look very frantic towards the ball that they were trying to bowl. They had the leg side field up on a bowling leg side. They had the

square leg and fine leg up and a bowling short ball. So whether that was bluffing or they just had a bit of miscommunication between captain and bowler at the time about what they wanted and that would be something that I think they would probably address, probably whether that be tomorrow or before the game they'd sit down with the bowling coach and just make sure

they address those plans and you don't want to make those same mistakes twice. Well that's it for this episode of the TMS podcast, make sure you're subscribed so that you never miss an episode. TMS is back on air at 2.15 on Sunday afternoon for the final international of the English summer in the final T20 from Trent Bridge. The Women's Football Weekly has found a new home in its very own feed. We've called it, unsurprisingly, BBC Women's Football Weekly. We'll continue to bring you the latest news, insights and analysis from across the women's game.

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