West Indies win thriller to capture T20 series against England

Shai Hope calmly cleared the ropes at point with the second ball of the final over as West Indies survived a late stumble to beat England by four wickets and claim the five-match Twenty20 International series on Thursday.

In pursuit of a modest 133 at the Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad, the Caribbean side slumped from a strong position of 95 for three in the 15th over to 123 for six in the penultimate over, to leave the series decider on a knife’s edge.

Left needing nine runs to win from a nerve-wracking last over bowled by pacer Chris Woakes, West Indies scrambled three off the first ball courtesy of Jason Holder’s streaky under edge to deep square leg.

Hope then eased the pressure by slicing the next delivery – a wide full-length ball – for six to end on a precious run-a-ball unbeaten 43 and take West Indies to a 3-2 victory in the series.

“We [kept] on losing wickets at key times but we always [knew] that Shai Hope was going to be the important man on this wicket,” said West Indies captain Rovman Powell.

“When the English batters batted, we realised that it wasn’t a wicket that offered a lot of shots so if we have somebody in our middle who can graft, get to 40 off 35 balls, that would serve us as a batting group well.”

Sherfane Rutherford chipped in with a crucial 30 off 24 balls while opener Johnson Charles lashed 27 off 22 deliveries in his first match of the series.

Sent in earlier, England failed to repeat their magic of the previous two games when they gathered totals in excess of 200 runs, struggling to a disappointing 132 all out with three balls remaining in the final over.

Opener Phil Salt, with hundreds in those outings, top-scored with 38 from 22 balls while Liam Livingstone struck 28 and Moeen Ali, 23, but England declined from 110 for four in the 15th over, to lose their last six wickets for 22 runs in the space of 30 deliveries.

It was Man-of-the-Match Gudakesh Motie who crippled the innings, with the left-arm spinner producing a remarkable four-over spell of three for 24, picking up the key wickets of Salt, Livingstone and the dangerous Harry Brook (7) cheaply.

“I thought the conditions were different [to the last game] – obviously [we were playing on] a used wicket,” said England captain Jos Buttler.

“We probably didn’t quite manage to adapt quickly enough. I thought 160 would’ve been a decent score to try and defend.”

Buttler (11) was the first of two early casualties with Will Jacks (7) following at the end of the fifth over, and Salt blasted five fours and a six before Motie spun one past his outside edge to shatter the stumps in the seventh over.

When Brook top-edged a paddle sweep and was taken behind in Motie’s next over, England were 70 for four at the start of the ninth over, and Livingstone and Moeen put on 40 for the fifth wicket before the innings collapsed dramatically.

Facing a straightforward required run rate, West Indies lost Brandon King for three at the start of the third over when he skied left-armer Reece Topley (2-17) to mid-wicket and Nicholas Pooran followed for 10 in the next over, playing on to seamer Chris Woakes.

Charles landed a few solid blows witha four and a couple of sixes but when he slapped an Adil Rashid (2-21) full toss low to Buttler at cover at the end of the eighth over, the home side were still only 54 for three.

Hope, who counted two fours and a six, then combined with Rutherford in a 41-run, fourth wicket partnership which appeared poised to see West Indies to victory.

Left-hander Rutherford was the aggressor with a four and a couple of sixes but his dismissal, taken low down at cover by Curran off leg-spinner Rashid, sparked the collapse which saw three wickets tumble for 18 runs before Hope rescued the chase.
(CMC)