Harry Brook hailed England’s new-found unity after they pulled off a huge chase in Bristol to win the second T20 international by four wickets, and set up the chance of a second clean sweep over a dispirited West Indies.
On a day of 25 sixes at Bristol’s petite Nevil Road, England knocked off a target of 197 with an impressive nine balls to spare to take a 2–0 lead into Tuesday’s third and final match in Southampton. Only once before had they successfully chased more to beat West Indies – and they could probably have hauled in 20 more.
Having lost eight white-ball games in a row as Jos Buttler’s regime came to a sorry end, England have now won five in succession, and are playing with some of the verve that characterised Eoin Morgan’s time in charge.
‘It feels like we’re a group of mates,’ said Brook. ‘We’re just going out and having fun. The results are awesome but we’re really enjoying ourselves.
‘At the end of games, we go round in a circle and Baz [McCullum] asks if anyone has anything to say, and so far someone has stood up each time and said something. That’s a great way of showing how the team is at the minute. We feel a proper togetherness.’
With 105 needed off nine overs, England needed all the camaraderie they could get, having struggled to make headway against the left-arm spin of Gudakesh Motie and Akeal Hosein, who landed at Heathrow only seven hours before the start, after finally resolving his visa issues in his native Trinidad.
England’s batters chased down 197 with more than an over to spare on Sunday afternoon
The win sealed a series victory for Harry Brook as he continued his strong start to captaincy
At that stage, it looked as if the West Indians might grab their first win of the tour, but Brook changed the mood by carving Romario Shepherd over deep backward point for an astonishing six. And while wickets continued to fall, including Jos Buttler for an inventive 47 off 36 balls and Brook himself for 34 off 20, it was the over that opened the floodgates.
Tom Banton slog-swept his first ball for six off Roston Chase, then heaved Motie over long-on. And the fun continued in the 16th over when Jacob Bethell deposited Alzarri Joseph over fine leg, hit him down the ground on to the roof of the residential apartments, then carved him for over point for six more.
It was the kind of innings that made his likely omission from the first Test against India later this month all the more absurd, with Ollie Pope favourite to keep his place at No 3 after taking 171 off Zimbabwe in the one-off Test at Trent Bridge.
By the time Bethell reverse-scooped Joseph to short third man, he had contributed 26 off 10 balls and put England in the driving seat. Banton’s unbeaten 30 off 11 ensured they stayed there. Despite hitting 10 sixes to West Indies’ 15, they managed the chase superbly.
‘That’s where the depth in batting is perfect,’ said Brook. ‘The way Bants went about his business, having never batted in the middle order, was awesome. With the boundaries just 60 metres all the way round, we thought they were about 20 or 30 short, and we knew we could get some big overs in.’
As if to prove his point, England managed 49 between the start of the 14th and the end of the 16th, a spell that included six sixes. It meant Ben Duckett’s 18-ball 30 to get the chase going was all but forgotten.
Luke Wood took two wickets and picked up the player of the match award on his return to the team
The biggest over of the day, however, had been the 19th of the West Indian innings, when Jason Holder and Shepherd took 31, with five sixes, off Adil Rashid. But with next year’s T20 World Cup taking place in India and Sri Lanka, England are determined to pack their side with spinners. Brook had only two quicks at his disposal, and one of them – Brydon Carse – had already bowled his four overs.
But while Rashid went the distance – conceding 59 in all, comfortably the most of his long career – the strategy has so far brought them two wins out of two in differing conditions at Durham and Bristol. Perhaps England’s trump card with the ball, though, was the left-arm pace of Luke Wood, playing his first international since September 2023.
Wood took a wicket with the game’s first ball, spearing a yorker into the pads of the left-handed Evin Lewis, and conceded only four runs in his first two overs. He later bowled Johnson Charles for 47 in bizarre fashion, the ball ricocheting between the batsman’s legs as he attempted a scoop, and held an athletic catch on the boundary to see off the dangerous Rovman Powell.
A smiling Brook described Wood as ‘another option to add to our armoury’. It won’t always be this way, but everything the new captain is trying right now is paying off.
