IPL snub fired Phil to a record century

PHIL Salt was taken aback at being overlooked in the Indian Premier League auction but used the snub as motivation to inspire England to a T20 series-levelling victory over the West Indies.

- DAVID CHARLESWORTH

While England team-mates Chris Woakes and Harry Brook saw their bank balances given a healthy top-up after going under the hammer in Dubai on Tuesday, there were no takers for Salt among IPL franchises.

The Lancashire opener made a couple of fifties in his debut season earlier this year, striking at 163.91 in nine matches for Delhi Capitals, so he was aggrieved to wake up in the Caribbean and find he had attracted no bids.

But three days on from a match-winning century in Grenada, Salt thumped an England T20 record 119 off 57 balls in Trinidad as the tourists set up a winner-takes-all showdown at the same venue today.

"It was a confusing morning," Salt said after England's 75-run thumping win in the fourth T20. "I expected to be picked up, having gone there last year and done well and after the year that I've had.