A stunning display of ball-striking from openers Shai Hope and Evin Lewis led West Indies to a record-breaking consolation win in their penultimate T20I against England. The pair Shai Hope and Evin Lewis staged a 136-run partnership off just 55 balls to mow down a large chunk of their 219 target, scoring 10 sixes and 11 fours between them, before Rovman Powell’s 23-ball 38 made further inroads and Sherfane Rutherford saw them home in the highest successful run-chase in T20Is at Darren Sammy Stadium, and their second-highest in all T20Is.
West Indies clinched the fourth T20I against England courtesy Evin Lewis (68) and Shai Hope (54), as the hosts chased down a steep target of 219 with an over to spare. A run-scoring fest in St. Lucia saw normal services resume after the third T20I, at the highest run-scoring ground in the Caribbean islands. Only 294 runs were scored during the previous game on Thursday night but in the latest instalment to the series, over a 100 more runs were scored – 439.
Pitch Report and Toss
Pitch Report: The thing to consider is that the wind is up today after being non-existent in the last game. 63m square boundaries and 71m hit down the ground. The other impact of the wind is that it reduces the dew. It’s the same pitch that was used for the last game. There’s been a hot wind blowing across and I don’t think there will be much moisture on it. It looks like a good surface. There will be bounce on offer for the seamers. You got to be meticulous with your horizontal shots, reckon Ian Bishop and Nikhil Uttamchandani
Toss : West Indies skipper Rovman Powell won the toss and chose to bowl with 2 changes in the playing XI with Romario Shepherd and Terrance Hinds making way for Obed McCoy and Sherfane Rutherford. England skipper Jos Buttler batting first handed debut cap to John Turner who comes in for John Turner.
Phil Salt and Jacob Bethell’s blitz carries England to 218 for 5 in 20 overs
Played on the same pitch as the third T20I, England got their innings off to a rollicking start with three boundaries in the first over. It was more of the same in the PowerPlay as Salt and Will Jacks brought up the 50-run stand within 26 balls, but the latter fell to Alzarri Joseph nicking one behind to the ‘keeper.
An expensive opening over from Obed McCoy included four leg byes, thanks to some questionable fielding, bookended by two fours off Salt’s bat, clipped in front of square and launched over mid-off. Akeal Hossein didn’t fare any better upon his introduction in the third over, two short balls in succession dispatched by Salt for four through the covers and a thumping six over midwicket before Jacks chimed in with a straight six to make it 18 runs off the over.
Jacks maintained his onslaught against McCoy and Alzarri Joseph, crashing the latter for an 89-metre six over long-on as England’s openers took their team past fifty in 4.2 overs. Joseph’s celebration was non-existent when he accounted for Jacks with a short ball, top-edged behind square leg,
Nicholas Pooran running round to gather comfortably as Joseph simply frowned, put his head down and stalked away to take his place in the outfield. But Salt carried on, raising his fifty with back-to-back fours off Powell, clubbed straight down the ground and cut deftly through backward point. It was his third half-century of this tour to go with his unbeaten 103 in the first T20I.
Salt held his breath moments later when he miscued off Hossein towards McCoy, who did well running in from long off to meet it as it dropped a fraction short of his dive. He was out a short time later though, attempting a pull shot off Chase, the ball brushing his glove and sailing down the leg side to a waiting Pooran for a 35-ball 55.
Jos Buttler looked set to continue England’s impressive gambit as he picked off boundaries from Chase and Gudakesh Motie, but the pair combined to end his innings on 38 as Buttler reverse-swept Motie to Chase at backward point. Motie then removed Livingstone cheaply, caught by Hetmyer at deep midwicket.
However, while Bethell’s half-century in the first match of this series had come in a supporting role to Salt, here he took the lead with Salt already back in the changeroom. Three sixes in succession off Chase took Barbados-born Bethell to a 22-ball fifty, his third of the tour, and he remained not out on 62 off just 32 balls after clearing the boundary five times in all and striking four fours.
Youngster Bethell, on the other hand, took his time to get his eye in but then punished the bowlers with aplomb. He played shots all around the park including the paddle, the straight drive, and the slice through the offside. He punished Chase for three consecutive sixes in the 17th over which brought up his 50 in 22 balls before Sam Curran hit two sixes in the last two overs to take England to 218 for 5. The visitors had scored 63 runs in the last five overs.
Evin Lewis, Shai Hope star in consolation win for WI vs ENG
In contrast to England, West Indies scored only five off the first two overs with a streaky boundary and a wide by John Turner, followed by a maiden by Saqib Mahmood. The blitzkrieg started after that as the two batters smashed 25 runs off Turner, which included three fours and two sixes while Mahmood conceded three boundaries to Hope. Suddenly, the hosts had brought up their 50 in 26 balls as well.
John Turner, making his T20I debut after his first two appearances for England during the ODI leg of this tour, opened the bowling and conceded just five off his first over. Saqib Mahmood followed up with a maiden, but Turner’s second went for an eye-watering 25, starting with Lewis’s six over deep backward square and ending with 4, 4, 6, 4 from Shai Hope as West Indies signaled they were up for the fight.
Shai Hope stayed sublime with back-to-back fours off Mahmood, who had caused the hosts no end of trouble this series, followed by a gorgeous drive off Sam Curran.
Shai Hope brought up his fifth T20I fifty – and third this year – in just 23 balls with a cracking four in front of square off Rehan Ahmed, three balls after hitting him over deep midwicket for six. Lewis sprung into action with a six over long-on as Liam Livingstone entered the attack, followed by a four to bring up West Indies’ hundred off 7.3 overs.
Lewis’s next six, measured at 105 meters, was truly jaw-dropping as he latched onto Livingstone’s leg-break and deposited it firmly over long on, and he rounded out a 30-run over with one more, evading Bethell as he launched himself in vain just inside the rope at deep midwicket. Lewis brought up his fifty in 26 balls with four off Curran and he reached 68 from just 31 balls before holing out to Dan Mousley, running in from the cover boundary off Rehan.
The West Indies batters went about scoring at least one six every over until the eighth put the game firmly in the control of the hosts. Liam Livingstone started his only over poorly with five wides and it only got worse as Lewis smashed him for three sixes and a boundary to fine-leg in a massive 30-run over. Curran, too, conceded 23 in the ninth over before leg spinner Rehan Ahmed broke the partnership, getting the wicket of Lewis.
England roared back into the game as they picked up Shai Hope and Nicholas Pooran in the ensuing deliveries. The former was run-out on 54 while Pooran was bowled by Rehan. But Powell, in the able company of Rutherford, kept the foot firmly on the accelerator to comfortably take West Indies home with five wickets to spare.
Shai Hope was run out next ball when Nicholas Pooran nudged a Rehan delivery to mid-on then sent Shai Hope back as Livingstone fired the ball in to the bowler with Hope still backing up. Then Pooran edged Rehan’s next ball, a googly, onto his off stump. After 10 overs, West Indies were 138 for 3, their highest score at the halfway point of a T20I innings, needing 81 runs in 60 balls and with two fresh batters at the crease. It suggested more twists to come.
Livingstone took an excellent catch over his shoulder running back from mid-on to remove Shimron Hetmyer but left the field after appearing to have jarred his knee in his exertion. Of equal concern to England at the time was the fact that West Indies captain Powell was looking all business, having raced to 27 in 14 balls. He became Turner’s maiden T20I wicket, pinned on the back thigh in line with off stump, leaving his side with 23 runs to get from 21 balls.
Rutherford skied Curran high over the bowler’s head and when it dropped in the middle of four converging fielders it felt like being West Indies’ night, if any more evidence was needed. Rutherford and Roston Chase held firm, Rutherford’s six down the ground off Mousley taking his side to within one boundary of victory with seven balls remaining. He took just one, slamming the very next over deep midwicket for another maximum, and victory. The series stands at 3-1 to England with one game left to be played.
England take the T20I series with 3-1 series win after a washout 5th T20I at St Lucia
England leave West Indies with a 3-1 T20I series victory after the final match of their Caribbean tour was washed out. Play was abandoned after just five overs in the fifth and final T20I with Evin Lewis and Shai Hope steering the hosts to 44 without loss before a heavy storm set in at Darren Sammy Stadium in St Lucia.
It wasn’t quite the start West Indies’ opening pair had staged less than 24 hours earlier, when they raced to 56 for nought in the first five overs and 136 for 0 in nine, on their way to chasing down a record 219 in Saturday’s dead rubber. But it wasn’t far off, with Lewis striking two sixes and three fours on his way to 29 not out before the rain arrived.
Lewis had just pulled a John Turner delivery for a thunderous six over deep midwicket and sent the next ball in the air wide of mid-on for four before he was rapped on the helmet by a steepling bouncer attempting another pull on the last ball of the over – and ultimately the match.
The rain arrived just as he was about to undergo on-field concussion checks, but he walked off smiling with the rest of the players. With Shai Hope unbeaten on 14 off 10 balls, it was an abrupt end to what had loomed as another entertaining encounter to end the series after the same pitch had yielded 32 sixes on Saturday.
On that occasion, West Indies had won the toss for the only time in this series, but they made a strong start in the face of Jos Buttler’s decision to bowl first on Sunday.
Turner, who was playing just his second T20I after making his debut in the fourth game of this series, conceded 22 runs from his two overs while Jofra Archer, replacing Saqib Mahmood for this match, went for 16 off 2. Jamie Overton, who didn’t bowl despite taking the field on Saturday, conceded five runs off his solitary over on Sunday.
England had taken an unassailable lead of 3-0 in the T20I series but the hosts bagged a consolation win in the fourth game. West Indies did, however, win won the preceding ODI series 2-1.
Presentations and Takeaways from the series for WI and ENG
Rovman Powell on winning the 4th T20I as WI skipper said : The guys were more committed today. All guys played well today. We are trying to tinker with the selection to get the right combination. We were forced to use only five bowlers today. He is very important for us.
He (Alzarri Joseph) is the spearhead of our team, the other bowlers need to reach his standards. We have been looking around the Caribbean for bowlers, it’s an opportunity for the bowlers to keep bowling well (and play for the West Indies.) There is still a lot to play for. We want to play well for the people of St Lucia who come out and support us.
Rovman Powell the losing WI skipper after the series lost said : It’s been a tough series. A lot of credit has to be given to Jos and his team, they came to our conditions and dominated. We played good cricket in patches, just that we didn’t play good cricket for long enough periods. We always as a batting group have a template that we try to work with, unfortunately the template didn’t work in the first few games.
As a team, we need to assess a little bit faster. As a bowling unit, we need to sharpen up on a few areas. It’s always a problem with the Caribbean cricketers, we always wander off. When we are not playing for West Indies, we play for different leagues around the world. It’s been a trend where we haven’t spent a lot of time together.
That is something that we have to keep working on, we have to keep the communication with the players and ensure that when the players come back for West Indies, they are ready to go. The way we played the last game, we showed that we can play really good cricket. If we had assessed a little bit earlier in the series possibly, it could have been a different series. A lot of credit has to be given to Jos and his team, congratulations to them.
Jos Buttler on losing the 4th T20I as skipper of England said : Was an excellent wicket. We got off to a good start. They played exceptionally well and put us under pressure. They (openers) were hitting it over the fielders, so we were trying to keep fielders in different areas and tried to take their focus away.
I think wrist spinners are wicket-takers in T20Is. Rehan brought us back in the game by creating chances. He is going to play a big part for England in the future. It was a good performance by us, but West Indies put up a good show and chased it down.
Jos Buttler the winning England skipper after taking series 3-1 said : We are delighted. We’ve had a few close calls out here as well, really good series against the West Indies. Thought we played some brilliant cricket early on and we are delighted with the win. We started all the games well, those powerplay wickets, Player of the Series Saqib Mahmood just set the tone in all those games which was great and a lot of different guys chipping in, really pleased for everybody.
All the formats, there’s a nice stock of fast bowlers with their own different variations and varieties, really exciting times for England men’s cricket. (On not keeping) I enjoyed it, I felt like I had more time to think and run around, be a bit closer to the bowlers, got everything I wanted. (Favorite moment) Series win, different guys standing up in different moments.
Shai Hope Player of the Match for his half century in the 4th T20I said : We had to assess the conditions, that’s what we struggled in the earlier games. Just had to understand the situation and had to come out on top in the powerplay. Just need to do what the team requires. It’s about understanding what is required and what the team needs. I prefer to bat in the middle, but I want to enjoy my cricket, so I am happy to bat anywhere. Need to work with my trainer (to avoid run-outs.)
Saqib Mahmood Player of the Series for his 9 wickets with at an average of 10.55 and an economy rate of 6.33 with a best of 4 for 43 in the 1st T20I said : As a group, we spoke beforehand to have that mindset of looking to take wickets the whole time. To come in with plans, to be able to back that up and get the rewards, it’s been nice. From my side, it’s obviously nice to work my way back into the England team. And to perform in this series, I am really happy. One thing that I noticed being here previously is the crosswinds at most grounds.
I sort of felt that if I wanted to take the new ball, I had to work on my away-swinger a little bit just because Reece Topley and Jofra would swing the ball back in. That’s something I worked on and to perform and show that in the games is nice. We have got a lot of fast bowlers.
There’s a few guys away with the Test team as well. At the moment, everyone is fit and healthy which is nice. Hopefully that’ll continue. (Favorite moment) Winning the third game which was a tight game, and to win the series, it was nice.
Phil Salt was the leading run-scorer with 162 including 103 not out in the first game and 55 in the fourth. Jacob Bethell, his 21-year-old team-mate, also impressed with 127 runs for once out, and at a superior strike rate of 173.97. The England duo were split by West Indies captain Rovman Powell on 153 runs.
Buttler collects the trophy and joins his team-mates as they pose for the photographs. ODI series win for West Indies, T20I series win for England. Although a bit predictable with all the matches being won by the chasing team, it was an exciting series. West Indies’ home season will continue as they face-off against Bangladesh – 2 Tests followed by 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is. England, on the other hand, will be touring New Zealand for a three-match Test series.