by Mick the Ram

The West Indies will go into the 5 match T20 series against England in great heart following a heartening 2-1 victory over the same opponents in the recent ODI trio of matches.

In particular the manner of the win in the deciding game in Barbados which they achieved convincingly by eight wickets, with as many as seven overs to spare.

Shai Hope, Keacy Carty and Brandon King have all made impressive centuries in the last week and the team seem in good shape to go after back-to-back series wins.

England for their part will now need to regroup quickly as they prepare to meet their conquerors on the same ground in the shorter format.

They will have a returning captain Jos Buttler to call upon, although his fitness is still questionable after several attempted comebacks have been aborted, meaning he has not played since the end of June at the T20 World Cup.

Impressive batting secures easy win

The West Indies produced a commanding performance to stroll to victory over England in the third and final one-day international in Barbados.

They won in a canter thanks to two impressive knocks by Keacy Carty and Brandon King, who each scored centuries as they easily chased down a below-par score.

The game was over as a contest a long time before the winning runs were scored, with Sint Maarten batter Carty still at the crease 128 not out after blazing his way to a maiden international ton in just 97 balls, having lost his partner King who made 102 and the two combined to put on a magnificent 210 runs for the second wicket.

Consistency the key says captain

West Indies captain Shai Hope was thrilled with the dominance in his sides display remarking: “The main thing if you want to be an elite team is that you’ve got to do things consistently, so this is a big plus for us, the work is really showing.”

Opposition failed to take advantage

England captain Liam Livingstone was naturally disappointed, particularly after his wonderful 85-ball 124 not out had carried England to victory, in the second ODI in Antigua.

That was the stand-in skipper’s maiden 50-over century and he would have hoped the momentum from his onslaught that saw him smash nine sixes, might have fired his troops up enough to perform more positively in the decider.

England camp hope younger players will benefit from experience

Instead, the batters could not really break free and the score of 263 never looked anywhere near enough and so it proved. “We battled back really well and the boys in the middle put on a decent partnership, but ultimately we didn’t get enough runs” he said.

He then added: “We are missing a lot of players and hopefully the younger boys that haven’t played that much international cricket have learned a lot.”

Buttler the potential threat

The West Indies will now look to build on the performances as they embark on two T20’s in Barbados over the weekend, before three successive games in St Lucia next week to complete the series.

They will be fully aware of the destructive capabilities of a returning Jos Buttler for England, but what sort of touch he is in is anybody’s guess.

He is not fit enough to undertake wicketkeeping duties, but he will open the batting and could be the man to make the difference.