- Brandon King and Keacy Carty both hit centuries for the victorious Windies
- Phil Salt stopped the bleeding for England but it was a dominant win in Barbados
England could find no remedy for their travel sickness at the Kensington Oval, as West Indies consigned them to a sixth straight series defeat overseas.
Shai Hope’s West Indians made it a sorry sextet, spanning all formats and stretching back to March last year, as dual centurions Brandon King and Keacy Carty oversaw an eight-wicket chase to complete a 2-1 victory.
It was sealed with seven overs unused, but the destiny of this floodlit affair – a 13th reverse in 20 one-day internationals for England – was dictated inside the opening hour courtesy of the loss of four wickets to the new ball.
Seldom are full recoveries made from such seismic early blows and although Phil Salt took responsibility for stopping the bleeding, featuring in twin stands of 70 with left-handers Sam Curran and Dan Mousley to provide the tourists with something to bowl at, the chasm between these opponents was put into perspective when England’s power play tally of two dozen was bettered inside 15 deliveries of the reply.
England also owed a tip of the hat to fortune in posting 263 for eight after Romario Shepherd’s face plant in his follow through forced him out of the action and allowed the tail to feast on part-time medium pace of Sherfane Rutherford.
The West Indies players celebrate with the series trophy after overcoming England again
Adil Rashid reacts during England’s heavy defeat at the Kensington Oval in Barbados
Salt and Mousley holed out for 74 and 57 respectively – the former a victim of King’s agility in a relayed boundary catch – but Rutherford was not spared thereafter as Jofra Archer struck an unbeaten 38 from 17 balls, his highest score in 66 internationals all told, and the recalled Jamie Overton weighed in with 32 off 21.
Archer blasted four boundaries in a 50th over that cost Rutherford 25 and all told 100 were mined from the final 10, but a middling target required early wickets to keep it out of reach.
In that regard, England did not make best use of Curran, the likeliest of their bowlers to swing the new ball as West Indies had done earlier in the day. Instead, he was invited for some middle-over pounding better suited to a taller man when King and Carty were set.
Both West Indies wickets were claimed by England’s recalled duo: Overton a beneficiary of Evin Lewis getting in a tangle against the short ball for the second time in as many outings and Reece Topley finding his way past a tired swipe by King with just 13 runs required.
Earlier, asked to bat first on a capricious pitch, and examined by lavish aerial movement, England paid a heavy price for some injudicious strokes, losing four wickets inside the opening 10 overs
Keacy Carly was one of two West Indies players to hit a century against England on Wednesday
Jordan Cox was the exception as he gloved a delivery from the recalled Alzarri Joseph at throat height, pushing forward when he might have been better placed rocking back, and concluding a miserable sequence of 21 runs from 57 balls in his maiden ODI series.
Frustratingly, his failure to make an impact at no 3 has coincided with a dip in form for Will Jacks. Here, like Liam Livingstone, Jacks drove handsomely for four but then perished attempting to repeat the stroke.
Jacob Bethell might have considered himself unlucky after Roston Chase pulled down a crunching cut from above his head one-handed at point and held on as his body crashed into the turf below.
Such a start ceded the momentum England brought with them from Antigua, where Livingstone’s coming of age hundred helped level things at 1-1.
However, their response to a looming crisis at 24 for four revealed an impressive heeding of the lessons from game one when they kept attacking and failed to bat out 50 overs as a consequence.
West Indies fans cheer from the ‘party stand’ during the third ODI in Bridgetown
But with Salt adopting the anchor role, playing his longest ever ODI innings in the process, they realigned things in a manner that allowed a late assault.
Other than indulging in his tactic of trying to launch the first ball of a bowler’s new spell into orbit – it had cost him his wicket in both matches at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, but here he successfully deposited Shepherd into the Joel Garner stand at the start of the 21st over – he was restraint itself.
It was Curran with 40 who was the more aggressive, providing the lion’s share of the fifth-wicket alliance, and the same was true of Mousley during the sixth.
Mousley’s first half century in an England shirt soon followed, but it was the miserable start rather than an uplifting end to the innings that told.
