- Brandon King and Keacy Carty both hit centuries for the victorious Windies
- Phil Salt stopped the bleeding for England but it was a dominant win in Barbados
England could find no remedy for their travel sickness at the Kensington Oval, as West Indies consigned them to a sixth straight series defeat overseas.
Shai Hope’s West Indians made it a sorry sextet, spanning all formats and stretching back to March last year, as dual centurions Brandon King and Keacy Carty revelled on a dew-slicked pitch to romp home by eight wickets and complete a 2-1 victory.
It was sealed with seven overs unused, but the destiny of this floodlit affair – a 13th reverse in 20 one-day internationals for England – was dictated inside the opening hour courtesy of the loss of four wickets to the new ball.
Seldom are full recoveries made from such seismic early blows and although Phil Salt took responsibility for stopping the bleeding, featuring in twin stands of 70 with left-handers Sam Curran and Dan Mousley to provide the tourists with something to bowl at, the chasm between the tourists and opponents that have failed to qualify for next February’s Champions Trophy was put into perspective when England’s power play tally of two dozen was bettered inside 15 deliveries of the reply.
England also owed a tip of the hat to fortune in posting 263 for eight after Romario Shepherd’s face plant in his follow through forced him out of the action, allowing the tail to feast on the part-time medium pace of Sherfane Rutherford instead.
The West Indies players celebrate with the series trophy after overcoming England again
Adil Rashid reacts during England’s heavy defeat at the Kensington Oval in Barbados
Salt and Mousley holed out for 74 and 57 respectively – the former a victim of King’s agility in a stunning, relayed boundary catch – but Rutherford was not spared thereafter as Jofra Archer blasted an unbeaten 38 from 17 balls, his highest score in 66 internationals, and Jamie Overton weighed in with an ODI best 32 off 21. In all, 100 runs were taken from the final 10 overs.
Scoring was undoubtedly helped in this period as floodlight overtook sunlight and falling dew hastened the ball onto the bat.
‘The pitch went from being so slow to start with to being absolutely drenched at the end,’ said England captain Liam Livingstone.
‘Both balls were soaking. I’ve played a lot of cricket around the world and I don’t think I’ve ever played in a game where conditions have changed so much from one innings to the next. It’s no excuse, we didn’t get enough runs but I think even if we’d have got more it wouldn’t have mattered.’
Keacy Carly was one of two West Indies players to hit a century against England on Wednesday
In response, England claimed just two wickets, one at either end of the innings for recalled Surrey pair Jamie Overton and Reece Topley: the former a beneficiary of Evin Lewis getting in a tangle against the short ball for the second time in as many outings and Topley finding his way past a tired swipe by King with just 13 runs required.
Earlier, asked to bat first on a capricious pitch, England struggled to score, finding themselves 24 for four after 10 overs.
Not that West Indies were necessarily a happy camp at that stage, either. In an extraordinary passage that followed the dismissal of Jordan Cox to a snorter that rapped his glove at throat height, the successful bowler Alzarri Joseph refused to celebrate and then left the field in a huff after completing the over, in response to the field set by Hope. It left the home team temporarily with 10 men and led to Joseph’s removal from the attack when he returned.
Hope later refused to discuss the incident, other than saying: ‘Things happen.’
England’s horror start ceded the momentum they carried with them from Antigua, where Livingstone’s coming of age hundred helped level things at 1-1.
West Indies fans cheer from the ‘party stand’ during the third ODI in Bridgetown
But with Salt adopting the anchor role, playing his longest ever ODI innings in the process, they realigned things in a manner they failed to when confronted with a similar scenario in the first match of three last week.
Other than indulging in his tactic of trying to launch the first ball of a bowler’s new spell into orbit – it cost him his wicket in both matches at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, but worked here when Shepherd was deposited into the Joel Garner stand to begin the 21st over – Salt was restraint itself.
It was Curran with 40 who was the more aggressive, providing the lion’s share of the fifth-wicket alliance, and the same was true of Mousley during the sixth.
Mousley’s first half century in an England shirt followed soon after Salt’s departure, but it was the miserable start rather than an uplifting end to the innings, plus the influence of a saturated outfield on the ball, that told.
