BASSETERRE – England needed just two hours and 13 overs to dispose of West Indies by eight wickets in the third Twenty20 International at Warner Park and complete a ruthless whitewash of the world champions yesterday.
For the second straight match, West Indies capitulated meekly, this time for 71 off 13 overs – their third-lowest T20 International total – after choosing to bat first. On Friday, at the same venue, they perished for 45, the second-lowest total in the format.
Once again, the Windies batsmen showed a lack of discipline and only four players reached double figures, with opener John Campbell, captain Jason Holder and Nicholas Pooran each scoring 11, and last man Obed McCoy ten.
The Windies were undermined by left-arm seamer David Willey, who produced career-best figures of four wickets for seven runs to claim Man Of The Match honours, while speedster Mark Wood claimed three for nine and leg-spinner Adil Rashid, two for 18.
England wasted little time in reaching their target off 63 balls, with opener Jonny Bairstow blasting 37 off 31 balls, striking four boundaries and a brace of sixes.
He put on 28 with Alex Hales (20) for the first wicket before adding 32 for the second wicket with Joe Root, who ended on four not out.
Dropped on 18 by Shimron Hetmyer off seamer Holder in the seventh over, Bairstow cleared the ropes at deep square leg in the same over before putting left-arm spinner Fabian Allen out of the park in the following over.
With just 11 runs needed for victory, he was bowled in the ninth over off the first ball of Devendra Bishoo’s opening over, but captain Eoin Morgan (ten not out) ended the match in the leg-spinner’s next over with a straight hit for six and a sweep to the backward square boundary off consecutive deliveries.
The T20 series defeat was a disappointing end to an otherwise outstanding performance by the hosts, who stunned England 2-1 in the Test series to regain the Wisden Trophy before coming from behind to level the five-match one-day series 2-2 against the world No. 1 side.
West Indies had a nightmare start to their innings when Shai Hope chipped the first ball from Willey to Hales at cover, and Hetmyer holed out to Man Of The Series Chris Jordan at mid-off in the bowler’s next over for eight, with ten runs on the board.
Campbell struck two fours – two pulls to the square boundary off seamer Jordan in the fourth over – but then skied Willey to Joe Denly at cover and when Darren Bravo (4) nicked one behind two balls later, the Windies were tottering on 24 for four in the fifth over.
Holder and Pooran posted the highest stand of the innings when they added 21 for the fifth wicket. But Holder, attempting a second straight six off leg-spinner Denley, was caught by Jordan in the deep in the ninth over and Pooran followed in the next, caught off Mark Wood. (CMC)
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