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• West Indies face major blow as Brandon King suffers injury in loss to England

  The West Indies' T20 World Cup campaign took a severe hit after their eight-wicket defeat to England in the Super 8s match in St Lucia on Wednesday night with the news that they could be without opener Brandon King for the remainder of the tournament. The Jamaican retired hurt due to an apparent side strain early in their innings of 180-4.

  King had given the West Indies a strong start, smashing 23 runs off just 12 balls, including a massive 101-metre six off Reece Topley that flew over the midwicket boundary. However, his promising innings was abruptly halted on his 13th delivery when he attempted to drive Sam Curran through the covers and suffered a side strain, forcing him to retire hurt after medical attention.

  Cricket West Indies (CWI) later confirmed the injury: "Brandon King has suffered a side strain and will not return to the field of play in this evening's match." King did not field during England's chase, with Shimron Hetmyer taking his place.

  Side strains usually take several weeks to heal, making King's participation in the remaining matches of the World Cup highly unlikely with only ten days left in the tournament. West Indies captain Rovman Powell expressed concern over King's injury. "Yes, a little bit worrying but hopefully he can pull through for the next game," Powell said. "We know how important a player he is for us."

  King's absence would be a significant setback for the West Indies. Despite a modest tournament so far with a top score of 34, King’s experience and leadership, having recently captained the team against South Africa, are invaluable.

  The West Indies have five standby players: Andre Fletcher, Kyle Mayers, Fabian Allen, Hayden Walsh Jr., and Matthew Forde. Kyle Mayers, who narrowly missed the initial squad, is the frontrunner to replace King, though Fletcher's experience as a top-order batsman also makes him a strong candidate.

  The team will travel to Barbados on Thursday ahead of their next Super Eight match against the USA at Kensington Oval on Friday. With their World Cup ambitions in jeopardy, the West Indies will need to quickly adapt and find a way to mitigate the loss of their dynamic opener.

  As the tournament continues, the focus will be on the West Indies to see how they handle this adversity and whether Brandon King can make an unexpected return to bolster their World Cup hopes.

• Impressive England thrash West Indies to make winning start to Super 8s

  Phil Salt hit an impressive six boundaries in a single over as England produced their best performance of the T20 World Cup to beat West Indies by eight wickets in the Super 8s.

  Opener Salt plundered 87 not out in 47 balls to set the defending champions on their way to hitting their target of 181 with 15 balls to spare.

  Brandon King made a promising start for West Indies, hitting 23 in the powerplay, but retired hurt, potentially ending his tournament early.

  Though Johnson Charles (38), Nicolas Pooran and Rovman Powell (both 36) kept the hosts moving steadily, England were able to limit them to 180-4.

  Salt hit his 50 at the start of the 16th, in which he hit three sixes and as many fours in a 30-run over against Romario Shepherd.

  Jonny Bairstow also added an unbeaten 48 to take them to 181-2 after Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali were dismissed, as England finally found their footing in the tournament.

  Data Debrief: Worth his Salt

  Salt's 30-run over firmly swung the momentum in England's favour, and it is the joint-most expensive over for a West Indies bowler at the T20 World Cup.

  Before this match, Salt had scored just 60 runs in total in England's previous three outings at the tournament but beat that in a dominant display against West Indies.

• De Kock and Rabada see South Africa past USA as Super 8s begin

  Quinton de Kock and Kagiso Rabada impressed as South Africa held on to defeat the United States by 18 runs in an entertaining encounter as the Super 8s began at the T20 World Cup on Wednesday.

  Opener De Kock smashed 74 runs from just 40 balls and captain Aiden Markram added 46 for the Proteas as their top order finally fired after enduring a difficult start to the tournament.

  Even though Harmeet Singh (2-24) removed De Kock and David Miller (0) in consecutive balls in the 13th over, Heinrich Klaasen (36 not out) and Tristan Stubbs (20no) helped South Africa to a healthy 194-4 in Antigua.

  USA fell to 76-5 just after the midway point of their innings as it looked like a chase of 195 would fall flat, but a magnificent partnership of 91 from 43 balls between Andries Gous and Harmeet took USA to within 28 of their target with two overs to spare.

  However, Rabada took the crucial wicket of Harmeet for 38 and killed the contest as his 19th over went for that wicket and just two runs, capping a fine bowling display that saw him finish with figures of 3-18 from four overs.

  Gous batted on and finished with an impressive unbeaten 80 off 47 balls, but USA fell short as South Africa maintained their 100 per cent record in the competition so far.

  Data Debrief: De Kock and Gous impress

  After USA won the toss and elected to field before removing Reeza Hendricks (11) in the third over, they sensed an opportunity to seize control.

  But De Kock had other ideas, smashing three successive sixes as South Africa scored a huge 28 off the fourth over to seize momentum they did not relinquish from there.

  De Kock’s superb innings included five maximums and seven fours until he was finally removed by Harmeet in the 13th over.

  As the South Africa star left the field, only three players had recorded a better innings than him in this year's tournament – West Indies' Nicholas Pooran (98), USA's Aaron Jones (94 not out) and Afghanistan batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz (who has had scores of 80 and 76).

  But Gous then immediately topped him with an excellent knock of his own, and the American now has the most runs in the tournament with 182, putting him 15 ahead Gurbaz, who is back in action against India on Thursday.