West Indies fall to crushing 5-0 T20 series defeat to England

An increasingly dispirited West Indies team were probably pleased to finally conclude the five match Twenty 20 series with England, after they slipped to their fifth defeat to complete a 5-0 win for the tourists, on the back of their 3-0 series victory in the One Day internationals, earlier in the month.

The final performance was possibly the tamest of the lot by the home side, as they were dismissed for a paltry 43, with teenager Djenaba Joseph the only batter to make double figures and also hit one of only two boundaries in the innings. England knocked the runs off with little fuss, and had more than 14 overs to spare, when Nat Sciver hit the winning run.

Captain’s struggle for form has knock on effect  

The Captain and star of the West Indies side, Hayley Matthews, has struggled throughout the series and that seems to have rubbed off on the rest of her inexperienced teammates, as the confidence quickly drained from them and as a consequence, they looked beaten quite early in most of the games played.

They have got to somehow overcome their reliance on their classy opening batter, as every time she is dismissed early, a collapse seems to follow. 

Need to take lessons learned into World Cup

The deflated team have to pick themselves up, dust themselves down, take whatever positives they can from the series and put the negatives out of their mind. They hopefully will have learned some vital lessons during the difficult month and can have a reset as they prepare for the T20 World Cup, coming up very shortly in February of 2023.

Finally a toss won

The final game, as the previous three had been, was played at the Kensington Oval. Bridgetown, Barbados. Remarkably, skipper Matthews had lost every toss coming into this fixture; but finally ended that run and after losing three on the bounce trying to chase down demanding scores, she made the decision to bat first, with her as usual leading from the front, and  presumably had the intention of trying to post a total they could hopefully defend.

Batting display is something of an embarrassment

Sadly it all went wrong pretty quickly when after hitting a boundary, she was out in the second over, bowled by Freya Davies, who would finish the match with figures of 3 for 2.

They were helped by some what has to be said, was some rather inept batting. Tied down by dot balls, time after time players swung wildly and gave away their wickets, instead of making the opposition work for them.

An all out total of 43 was a bit of an embarrassment and there was almost a unified sigh of relief, when three balls into just the sixth over, England sealed the victory to complete their crushing success.

Huge gulf in class at present 

The tourist bowled accurately, but also gave the impression they were bowling within themselves, which highlighted how far apart these two teams are at the moment in terms of ability.

Some bright spots even amongst the negatives

To be fair and offer some positivity, the bowling unit for the West Indies did not disgrace themselves and the two girls playing in their first series: top scorer Joseph and Trisha Holder both 19-years-old, did well and offer some hope moving forward; but it had been a disappointing end to what in reality was a totally on-side series.

Job well done for England with 100% win record for entire month away

England’s confidence coming into the opening game of the series, the only one played at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, in North Sound, Antigua, was always going to be sky high, after three dominant displays in the preceding ODI series, where they won all three by over 140 runs.

That set the tone for all eight games played on the tour and in truth, they were rarely challenged.

West Indies never really challenged throughout series

They won in Antigua after restricting the West Indies to just 105-7 and knocked off the runs in just over 12 overs. Although they put up a better show in the next two games, they never really threatened to chase down their targets, and then in the fourth game they were again found badly wanting.

Professionalism shone through from the English

England will feel understandably pleased with themselves, after all any series win is a confidence boost, but Heather Knight’s side will know they weren’t really pushed and they will need to guard against complacency. That said, there was never any sign of taking the foot of the gas over in the Caribbean, as the went about their business in a very professional manner.

Strength in depth will give confidence for a bright World Cup campaign

Assessing where they are in the lead up to the World Cup is tricky, but they will be pleased with the demonstration of strength in depth that exists within the squad, particularly in the bowling department.