West Indies cricket team held its nerve in the final over to beat world champion England and take control of the Twenty20 series 3-2 on Thursday at Brian Lara Stadium. England bowlers raised tension exceptionally by bowling at the death to give some hope. Still, ultimately, it wasn’t enough as West Indies emerged victorious at Brian Lara.
Reece Topley bowled fast bowler Reece Topley caught West Indies captain Rovman Powell out for two runs in the 17th over, and medium pacer Sam Curran caught Andre Russell for just one in the 19th over.
West Indies was still leading going into the final over, yet needed nine runs for victory.
Jason Holder scored three runs off Chris Woakes’s initial delivery, with Rehan Ahmed saving one run at square leg before Shai Hope unleashed his first six over deep point to close the match.
West Indies scored 133-6 to beat India by four wickets with four balls remaining.
The home side won the one-day international series by two wins to one. Hope led the West Indies’ chase with an outstanding run-a-ball 43 not out, yet after eight overs, they found themselves reeling at 54-3.
Sherfane Rutherford joined Hope in the middle, quickly overtaking him when his first six over Adil Rashid’s head brought up 20. Rutherford hit Curran over the fence at fine leg before being caught by Curran at 30 to give Rashid two-21 off four overs.
West Indies needed 34 runs from 30 deliveries, so Ahmed conceded 11 runs in one of his next overs to ease some pressure off.
Topley quickly returned the favor by dismissing Powell for two runs to finish his four overs with 2-17.
England showed remarkable resilience despite an inconsistent batting display that paled compared to what had taken place earlier on Tuesday at this same ground to level the series 2-2.
England was all out for less than half of their record 267-3 score on Tuesday; when England hit 19 sixes back then, only five sixes were hit on this sticky, used pitch.
Phil Salt led England with three scores in an unchanged team; however, an inspired West Indies side bowled and fielded accurately and energetically to counter their challenge.
Jos Buttler of England made 11 in just the fourth over, scooping Holder to Oshane Thomas at short fine leg and being dismissed outright.
Will Jacks hit an initial six, only to be bowled by Akeal Hosein on his next ball and immediately run out.
Salt was out in the seventh over, just a short time after hitting his first six. Gudakesh Motie hit him square on, sending a bouncer through the middle stump. Unfortunately for Salt, no third consecutive hundred was scored — only 38 runs off 22 balls!
Moeen Ali scored 23 off 21 and Liam Livingstone 28 off 29 – both bowled by Motie to start an 11-run collapse of five wickets within 11 overs.
Motie and Hosein combined for five wickets at 44 runs each to dismiss five of the top six batters on their squad.