West Indies hammer England in series decider
West Indies claim a series victory over England after defeating the tourists by eight wickets in the third and final ODI in Barbados.
Third ODI, Barbados
England 263-8 (50 overs): Salt 74 (108); Forde 3-35
West Indies 267-2 (43 overs): Carty 128* (114), King 102 (117); Overton 1-17
West Indies win by eight wickets; win series 2-1
West Indies claimed a series victory over England after defeating the tourists by eight wickets in the third and final one-day international in Barbados.
Keacy Carty and Brandon King both scored impressive hundreds as West Indies cantered home in pursuit of 264 with seven overs to spare.
Sint Maarten batter Carty blitzed his way to his maiden international ton in 97 balls and stayed unbeaten on 128, while King made his third ODI century in 113 balls.
England’s 263-8 had looked reasonably healthy considering they crumbled to 24-4 in 10 overs.
Phil Salt’s watchful 74 dug them out of a hole with Sam Curran scoring 40 and Dan Mousley impressing with his maiden ODI half-century.
Jamie Overton added 32 while Jofra Archer remained unbeaten on 38 as England recovered to post a total which had looked challenging until the intervention of King and Carty.
With Jos Buttler returning as captain, England will hope to regroup as they prepare for a five-match T20 series, which begins at the same venue on Saturday.
Salt’s innings a silver lining
Salt watched on from the non-striker’s end as West Indies ripped through the England top order.
After the tourists were forced on to the back foot early, the opener played an uncharacteristically sedate knock to lend some respect to the England total.
Matthew Forde had found some early movement to dismiss Will Jacks in the third over before Jordan Cox’s troubles against the short ball continued as he gloved a 92mph bouncer from Alzarri Joseph to Hope behind the stumps.
Jacob Bethell went for a duck, with captain Liam Livingstone joining him in the dressing room inside the powerplay, leaving England up against it.
They were grateful for the patient display from Salt, who hit just one boundary in his first 52 balls before hoisting Romario Shepherd over mid-wicket for his only six to bring up a precious 50-run partnership with Curran.
It took the opener 79 balls to reach his fifth and slowest ODI half-century before falling to Forde on 74, but only after providing the springboard for England.
Mousley built on that momentum and carved out his maiden half-century in 64 deliveries, accumulating the bulk of those runs on the leg side before falling to Joseph as England stepped on the gas.
Overton’s 32 from 21 balls and Archer’s 17-ball 38 helped the visitors ransack 100 in the last 10 overs, including 21 off the final over.
Though England ultimately fell well short, Salt’s back-to-back fifties will give him confidence heading into the T20 series, where he will retain the gloves despite Buttler’s return.
England’s bowlers falter again
England came into the deciding ODI with their confidence boosted after a thrilling win in the second game in Antigua and they gave themselves a fighting chance at the halfway point after an excellent recovery with the bat.
The 239 runs they added after the top-order collapse was the second most they have scored after the fall of four wickets in ODIs.
However, their bowling attack failed to impress yet again against a West Indies side which had won just one of their six previous matches heading into the series.
King struck sublime back-to-back boundaries in Jofra Archer’s opening spell in a quick start for the home side on a wicket that had favoured the chasing team in nine of the previous 11 matches.
Overton dismissed Evin Lewis cheaply for his first ODI wicket, but that was as good as it got for England with the ball.
Livingstone used seven of his nine bowling options to no avail in his bid to rein in Carty and King as the duo built a 209-run partnership, which was only broken in the 41st over by Reece Topley with West Indies just 13 runs away from victory.
England’s most experienced fast bowler Archer underwhelmed at the Kensington Oval to finish the series with one wicket from 23 overs, while leg-spinner Adil Rashid ended with figures of 0-51.
Skipper Hope joined Carty to finish the job for the hosts to leave England with plenty to ponder in this format before a three-match ODI series in India in February, which is their final preparation before the Champions Trophy in Pakistan later in the same month.
Dominance pleases Windies skipper – what they said
West Indies captain Shai Hope: “I would have to say the dominance [pleased me most]. We asked for consistency and discipline, and that’s exactly what the guys did. The main thing if you want to be an elite team is that you’ve got to do things consistently.
“It’s a big plus for us, the work is really showing. The guys are putting a lot of work in off the field. It’s a great confidence booster, especially for the batting unit.”
England captain Liam Livingstone: “We battled back really well [with the bat]. The boys in the middle put on a decent partnership and ended really well. Ultimately we didn’t get enough runs. Disappointed with the end to the series but there have been a lot of good parts.
“We are missing a lot of players. We have a lot of people to come back into the team. Hopefully the younger boys that haven’t played that much international cricket have learned a lot.”
