Much improved West Indies denied by brilliant Joe Root

After the abject showing in the first ODI at Edgbaston, West Indies restored some pride with a far better display in the second match of the series that took place at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff.

They posted a challenging total with an excellent century by Keacy Carty and would surely have forced a victory were it not for an incredible innings by England’s Joe Root.

His 166 not out was his highest score in one-day internationals, and in compiling those runs it took the classy Yorkshire batsman past Eoin Morgan to become England’s leading run-scorer in the one-day format.

England won the game by 3 wickets with 7 balls to spare, but the West Indies will be frustrated at a missed opportunity having been 146-1 at the halfway stage and looking capable of a score approaching 350.

Their 308 was a decent effort, but they fell away towards the end of their overs to such an extent that they lost their last 5 wickets for 50 runs and were all out with still 14 balls remaining.

The loss meant that the series was also out of reach, but encouraged by a more competitive performance it should see the West Indies head to the Oval for the final game in better heart.

Classy knock from Carty

England won the toss and slightly surprisingly decided to bowl first, although they would have been feeling it was a good decision when Jewel Andrew fell in only the second over.

That brought Carty to the crease and he proceeded to construct an impressive score of 103, assisted by some poor England fielding, who spilled two chances to remove him the first when he had only one run to his name.

Big score looked very much on

Together with Brandon King, they added 141 for the second wicket and the lacklustre display of the first game seemed a long way away, as hopes were suddenly high for levelling the series.

Even after King was out for a smart 59, the arrival of Shai Hope kept the momentum going and with 15 overs to go, eight wickets in hand, and 200 already on the board, a score of 330 to 350 looked very much achievable.

Disappointing collapse

Unfortunately after Carty was third man out, players came and went a regular intervals and there was a sense that the total of 308 was 20 or 30 short.

However, when both England’s openers were dismissed within the first nine balls of the chase, it appeared that West Indies were in the driving seat.

Rebuild after shocking start

Captain Harry Brook joined Root at 2-2, but both settled very quickly and began to eat into the total.

Nevertheless, when Brook, Buttler and Bethell were out to leave England on 133-5 it definitely felt like the visitors were heading for an unexpected, but very welcome victory.

Root in a class of his own

Sadly for them, England had the highly accomplished Will Jacks to come in at number seven and he batted sensibly by taking singles to give the strike to Root, who was very much into his stride.

By the time Jacks was out the target was just 33 in 6 overs, and it was fitting that the majestic Root went to his first ODI score of 150 with a glorious cover-driven boundary off a frustrated Matthew Forde.

He struck the winning runs in the next over to finish 166 not out, having essentially won the game for his side single-handedly.

Fortunate let-off

Forde’s frustration stemmed all the way back to the sixth over of the innings when he strongly believed he had trapped Root LBW for just 7, only to see the umpire fail to share his enthusiasm for the delivery, and then on review the not out decision was not over-turned, despite replays suggesting the ball would have clipped the bails.

In reaching his highest score, Root took his tally to 7,082 ODI runs in 168 innings, surpassing former captain Eoin Morgan’s mark of 6,957.

Team player first and foremost 

Root was typically modest afterwards, preferring to praise his side’s bowlers for wrestling the game back from the West Indies when it looked like they were set for a much bigger score, along with the intelligent batting of teammate Will Jacks: “I thought it was exceptional work from the bowlers; there have been a lot of England teams I’ve played in before where it’s ended up 350 and then it’s a completely different chase, and for Will to show that maturity, the skill, the calmness, and the clarity was really impressive.”

Skippers’ contrasting thoughts

England captain Harry Brook was full of praise for his batting hero: “Joe was unbelievable and he’s only getting better. He’s someone I look up to, he’s such an amazing player, such an amazing bloke and works the hardest out of anyone I’ve seen.”

West Indies skipper Shai Hope also felt his team left runs out in the middle: “The position we were in around 30-35 overs, we should’ve put on 30 to 40 more runs at least. We fell away at the end and didn’t dominate with the bat, but we have to commend the bowlers for the fight they showed to keep us in the game until the end.”

Something to build on

So ultimately the series has ended in disappointment for the West Indies, but this latest performance will restore some confidence, not least for Alzarri Joseph who bowled a hostile spell and took 4-31 from his 10 overs.

The team will try and build some momentum in the 3rd match, ahead of the two sides commencing another 3-match series, this time in the T20 format.