Ton Up King Helps Windies Batter England
Centuries for Jamaica’s Brandon King and St. Marteen’s Keacy Carty clobber tourists to seal ODI series in Barbados
The West Indies bounced back from disappointment in their previous match to overwhelm England with a hefty victory to clinch the ODI series with aplomb.
Sizzling centuries from battling opener Brandon King and Keacy Carty, during an entertaining second-wicket partnership of 209, helped steer the Windies to an overwhelming win in Barbados.
This decider was expected to be a much closer contest, although statistics favoured the hosts. Records showed that the team who batted second had triumphed in nine of the previous 11 matches at Bridgetown’s Kensington Oval.
The Windies had opened the ODI series with an eight-wicket win courtesy of the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern in Antigua.
The following match, inside the same Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, was a run feast with more than 650 runs scored collectively. England stand-in skipper Liam Livingstone hit his maiden ODI ton, 124 from 85 balls, for victory with 15 balls remaining to square the series.
Livingstone was one of four players cheaply back in the pavilion following a brief foray at the crease, as England collapsed in the 3rd ODI.
Sam Curran arrived at the crease to join reliable opener Phil Salt, with the scoreboard looking bleak for at 24-4 after the powerplay 10 overs. Curran scored a slow 40 before spinner Royston Chase captured his wicket.
Medium pacer Matthew Forde finally saw off Salt (74), caught by Alzarri Joseph who earlier had a controversial disagreement with captain Shai Hope. Joseph sat out a few balls in the dugout early on, and was taken off bowling duty until reappearing in the 12th over.
The Caribbean bowlers were frustrated by lower end batting. Dan Mousley (57), plus quickfire innings from Jamie Overton (32) and Barbados-born tail-ender Jofra Archer (38no), saw England finish with a respectable 263-8.
Opening bowlers Forde (3-35) and Joseph (2-45) will surely have both been disappointed to have not collected more wickets.
The response from the Windies was an extravaganza of showmanship from the onset. King thumped Jofra Archer with back-to-back boundaries from the opening two deliveries.
This explosive start saw 27 runs chalked up after three overs, but there was disaster for the hosts when Trinidadian Evin Lewis (19) was dismissed in the seventh over.
St. Maarten’s Carty joined King, who was dropped twice — by Salt off Livingstone at 44 and Cox off Archer on 86. Carty then lit up the ground with an innings that was hotter than the Caribbean sunshine at 32 degrees. He too came close to being dismissed on 13, but Livingstone’s lbw decision was overturned after an inside edge was detected by the Decision Review System (DRS).
Carty’s fireworks with the bat continued after this scare, and he was rewarded with his maiden international ton in only 97 balls. He lost King (102) in the 41st over, after the Jamaican was clean bowled by left-arm pacer Reece Topley, when victory was in sight.
Hope joined shining star Carty at the crease for two-and-a-half overs, with just 13 more runs required. Carty remained unflustered to finish the encounter by bagging the winning runs. His maiden international ton, an unbeaten 128 included 17 boundaries.
Hope, who had only overseen one win in six matches before the ODI series, admitted: “The work is really showing. The guys are putting a lot of work in off the field. It’s a great confidence booster, especially for the batting unit.
“We asked for consistency and discipline, and that’s exactly what the guys did. The main thing if you want to be an elite team is that you’ve got to do things consistently.”
The Windies lock horns with England again. This time for a five-match T20 series, which begins in Barbados on Saturday (9 November), when the tourists will welcome back Jos Buttler as skipper.
WEST INDIES WON ODI SERIES 2-1
1st ODI | WI won by 8 wickets (DLS Method)
England 209 all out (45.1 overs)
WI 157-2 (25.5 overs)
2nd ODI | England won by 5 wickets
WI 328-6 (50 overs)
England 329-5 (47.3 overs)
3rd ODI | WI won by 8 wickets
England 263-8 (50 overs)
WI 267-2 (43 overs)
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