Curran, Buttler lead visitors to series-leveling win

Sam Curran bounced back from the horrors of Sunday’s opening match to produce a spectacular spell of fast bowling that undermined the West Indies and led England to a resounding six-wicket victory in the second One-Day International on Wednesday.

The left-arm pacer, who was belted for 98 runs from his 9.5 overs in the first ODI, returned to grab three wickets for 33 runs from seven overs to help dismiss the West Indies for 202 in 39.4 overs at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua.

Windies’ skipper Shai Hope was once again impressive in his top score of 68 and Sherfane Rutherford made 63, but there was very little resistance from any of the other batsmen in a lacklustre performance.

And while England stuttered early on in their run chase, Will Jacks’ 73, Jos Buttler’s unbeaten 58 and Harry Brooks, who made 43 not out, combined to take them to 206-4 from 32.5 overs to level the three-match series at 1-1.

“As we all can see, we didn’t start as well as we should’ve with the bat. We put ourselves under a bit of pressure there,” Hope said afterwards.

“But I must also take the positive from the game: Sherfane played a really good innings there to get us out of a hole but again, we also didn’t finish as well as we could’ve. We didn’t play the situations smart enough and I think that’s what caused that downfall in the back end.

“We have to win the game [at Kensington Oval] to win the series and everything we need to do, whether it is from more planning [or] more preparation, we’ve got to be ready for the next game coming,” he maintained.

After being sent in to bat, Hope would have been hoping for a strong start from his side in a bid for a series-winning victory.

However, the home side soon found themselves in early trouble at 23-4 thanks mainly to Curran’s impressive bowling.

Gus Atkinson actually got the first breakthrough when he had Alick Athanaze caught behind by Buttler for 4 with the score on 15.

Curran then grabbed three wickets for the addition of just nine runs to put England in complete control of the contest.

Keacy Carty didn’t trouble the scores and was caught at slip by Zak Crawley, and Brandon King made 17 before his outside edge also picked out Crawley as West Indies fell to 23-3.

Without a run being added, Curran trapped Shimron Hetmyer lbw for a duck, although a review was needed with the umpire initially ruling it not out.

It brought Rutherford to the crease and together with Hope, they set about repairing the damage in a 129-run partnership for the fifth wicket.

While Hope counted half-dozen fours and a six, Rutherford punched seven fours and a six in a controlled knock, the pair guiding the hosts to 119 for four at the half-way stage.

But once Rutherford drove Liam Livingstone into Phil Salt’s lap at cover in the 30th over, West Indies crumbled, with the last six wickets going down for just 50 runs.

Hope was seventh out in the 34th over, bowled playing back to Livingstone following a misjudgment of length.

In reply, Jacks gave England the ideal start, blasting six fours and four sixes as he put on exactly 50 off 35 balls with Salt (21) for the first wicket, 25 for the second with Crawley (3) and a further 31 for the fourth with Brook.

Motie eventually got Crawley to drag on a slow-sweep in the 11th over and then induced left-hander Ben Duckett into gloving a sweep to wicketkeeper Hope in the 13th over.

And when Rutherford trapped Jacks lbw in the 20th over with his unpractised medium pace, England were stumbling at 116 for four, but Buttler and Brook quickly ended any hope of a come-from-behind win for the hosts.
(RB/CMC)