Phil Salt blasted an unbeaten 87 as defending champions England cruised to an eight-wicket victory over the West Indies in their T20 World Cup Super Eight clash in St. Lucia on Wednesday.

Opening batsman Salt smashed seven fours and five sixes during a superb 47-ball knock at the Daren Sammy National Stadium as England made a flying start to the second round of the tournament.

After restricting West Indies to 180-4 off their 20 overs, Salt's knock steered England home with a winning total of 181-2 off 17.3 overs.

Having squeaked into the second stage on net run rate, England will take a huge boost of confidence from beating one of the in-form teams at the tournament to top Group 2 with South Africa, who they meet at the same ground on Friday. (Agencies)