West Indies restored some pride by securing a thrilling five-wicket victory against England with a blistering run chase in their Twenty20 international in St Lucia on Saturday.
A big-hitting 55 from opener Phil Salt and an even more aggressive unbeaten 62 from Jacob Bethell, who brought up his second T20I half-century with three successive sixes, helped England post an imposing 218 for five from their 20 overs.
In reply, West Indies openers Shai Hope and Evin Lewis smashed 136 off the first nine overs to put the hosts in the driving seat, with captain Rovman Powell’s 38 steering his side to their highest-ever successful run chase in the Caribbean with six balls to spare.
England nonetheless take an insurmountable 3-1 series lead into the fifth and final T20I showdown on Sunday.
“We’ve been losing early wickets so we needed to understand the best remedy to combat their bowlers,” Hope said.
“I just believe in doing what the team requires. Obviously different situations require different approaches. Just doing what the team need in a particular moment.”
With the series victory already wrapped up, England’s aggressive top order could really loosen the shackles after being put into bat first, with Salt, a centurion in the opening T20 of the series, in particularly fine fettle, racing to a 32-ball 50.
Salt, who now has 640 runs against West Indies in T20 cricket – more than any other England batsman has scored against a single opponent – helped the tourists amass more than 100 runs inside the first 10 overs of a T20I when batting first for only the seventh time.
Skipper Jos Buttler continued the big hitting, but it was Bethell who stole the show, hammering nine boundaries to all corners of the ground en route to his highest T20I score to date.
With England firmly in the driving seat and the West Indies top order struggling in the series before Saturday’s encounter, few gave the hosts any chance of victory, but Lewis and Hope slammed 10 sixes on their way to match-winning contributions of 68 and 54, respectively.
Three wickets in three balls saw Hope, Lewis and Nicholas Pooran depart, Hope ran out for the second match in a row, to swing the pendulum England’s way once more, but the hosts’ score of 138 for three was still their highest after 10 overs of a T20I innings.
Powell, the only West Indies batsman who has performed consistently throughout the series, again took the attack to England, before Sherfane Rutherford sent back-to-back sixes sailing over the boundary rope to secure victory.
“It was an excellent wicket and we got off to a great start with our openers putting them under plenty of pressure,” Buttler said. “We thought we needed at least 220.
“Their openers then played exceptionally well too. We were trying to do some things differently, create some opportunities with fielders in other areas of the field.”
Reuters
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