Windies In A Spin To Fail Miserably With The Bat Against England
Jason Holder battling display was not enough to save the West Indies from slipping up by a mammoth 34 runs to England, as they failed to cope with the spinners in the 4th T20I in Barbados today (29 January).
The ex-Test skipper’s three-wicket haul and gusty innings will give the hosts some belief when they face their second and last chance to win this highly entertaining five-match T20I series.
The Kensington Oval’s slow and well-worn wicket made it tricky for England to score early runs, but the tourists recovered with 75 runs off their last five overs to reach a creditable total of 193-6.
In response the Windies made a solid start, but stuttered badly for three overs just before they reached the halfway stage of 10 overs. They lost the crucial wickets of Jamaican duo Brandon King (26) and Rovman Powell (5), the latter the hero in the previous encounter with a ton.
Once Holder found his feet, to strike a handful of boundaries, he piled on the pressure with much-needed runs before being caught on the boundary for 36. But with the giant Bajan having little support in the middle, and his boots never properly filled, proved costly as the West Indies fell incredibly short of the set target.
Holder’s first over with the ball ended with frustration even though he captured the wicket of Tom Banton, who was caught by Kyle Mayers at mid on. He dropped Jason Roy, albeit a tricky one-handed catch, off his own bowling earlier in the over.
Roy (52) was a wizard with the bat but finally returned to the pavilion, caught by wicketkeeper Nicholas Pooran off skipper Kieron Pollard, with the score at 93-2 in the 12th over.
Four runs later James Vince (32) was out, Akeal Hosein’s wider delivery tempting him to slice the ball to Mayers at short third man.
But Hosein was smashed for six by Moeen Ali in the 15th over, which started the England comeback trail. England got their act together in the middle with Ali hitting four successive sixes off Holder to score 28 off the over and bring up a rapid half-century wicket stand with Liam Livingstone.
Romario Shepherd captured Livingstone (16), who tried in vain to emulate the exploits of England captain Ali only for the ball to find the safe hands of King.
Holder returned for the final over, capturing two wickets – Phil Salt for a duck and Ali (63) – in three balls. But his final two deliveries were smashed for six by Sam Billings, to leave the hosts a tricky target.
Ali was not just the England hero with the bat, he was also a thorn in the side for the Windies with the ball. As one of a trio of effective spinners he sent left-hander Mayers (40) packing, caught at long off by Barbadian-born Jordan.
And Ali dismissed fellow opener King (26), whose ambitious drive only got as far as Salt at long on. This wicket saw the tide turn in England’s favour as the Windies briefly crumpled.
There was no repeat of Powell’s blistering innings, falling victim of a googly from Adil Rashid to be clean bowled and leave the West Indies on 78-3. Pooran (22) was next to go, Roy’s well-taken diving catch at long on off spinner Livingstone.
There were some cracking connections from the bat of Holder until he misjudged Reece Topley’s delivery, which Jordan scooped up to leave the hosts in trouble at 144-5 and requring 50 runs from 17 balls.
Pollard, who survived being caught by fully stretched Roy at long on, in the penultimate over off Topley managed to come up with a handful of solid shots. But with Darren Bravo as his partner in crime the pair were never going to drum up the necessary runs to earn victory.
The West Indies’ downfall was giving away so many runs in the final five overs as well as being unable to cope with the spin of Ali, Livingstone and Rashid.
Jamaican Fabian Allen is most likely to return for Sunday’s decisive T20I, but the Windies should not only appreciate that they could do better but that they must raise their game against the top-ranked team in this format.
WI v England 2022
22 January | 1st T20I (Kensington Oval, Barbados)
WI 104-1 (17.1 overs) beat England 103 all out (19.4 overs) by 9 wickets
23 January | 2nd T20I (Kensington Oval, Barbados)
England 171-8 (20 overs) beat WI 170-8 (20 overs) by 2 wickets
26 January | 3rd T20I (Kensington Oval, Barbados)
WI 224-5 (20 overs) beat England 204-9 (20 overs) by 20 runs
29 January | 4th T20I WI v England (Kensington Oval, Barbados)
England 193-6 (20 overs) beat WI 159-5 (20 overs) by 34 runs
30 January | 5th T20I WI v England (Kensington Oval, Barbados)
1-4 March | Warm-up friendly (Coolidge Cricket Ground, Antigua)
8-12 March | 1st Test WI v England (Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground, Antigua)
16-20 March | 2nd Test WI v England (Kensington Oval, Barbados)
24-28 March | 3rd Test WI v England (National Cricket Stadium, Grenada)
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