England win second T20 match against West Indies to win series

The West Indies suffered their second defeat of the T20 triple-header against England at Bristol and in doing so fell to a series defeat. That follows the 3-0 ODI series loss earlier in the month, leaving Shai Hope’s side with nothing but pride to play for in the final game at Southampton on 10 June.

There had been encouraging signs in the opener at Durham two days before, so the skipper was upbeat before the match started. He was pleased to welcome back Akeal Hosein for his tight bowling, even if it was at the expense of Andre Russell, who had some issues following the long journey from the north-east of the country, down to the south-west.

Hope was not too down after the toss, despite Harry Brook calling correctly and opting to bowl first, which the captain admitted he would have done also. The reason given by England’s skipper was simply that they fancied a run chase on a smaller ground with shorter boundaries.

The home side brought Luke Wood back into the team for his first international appearance since September 2023 and he made a dream start and instant impact, taking a wicket with his first delivery. Evin Lewis was convinced he had got an inside edge onto his pads, but replays showed he’d actually clipped the ground and the ball had thundered into his pads, making it a clear LBW.

The visitors recovered well however, with Hope joining Johnson Charles and together they put on 90 for the second wicket, before Adil Rashid accounted for the captain with a ball that tempted him out of his crease, only to be stumped by Jos Buttler for 49. West Indies stumbled their way through the middle overs and with four overs of their allotted 20 remaining and with just 121 on the board, they looked well short of a respectable and indeed defendable total.

Step forward Jason Holder and Romario Shepard who between them proceeded to take 75 off those final 24 deliveries, including one over that was dispatched for five mighty sixes. Holder hit 29 off just 9 balls and Shepard 19 off 11, to help their side finish with a very impressive 196-6 and set England a far more challenging chase than seemed likely just 15 minutes earlier.

As the captain had remarked in his pre-match interview, Akeal Hosein is a great bowler to have in your armoury considering that he is second in the global T20 rankings. He is not easy to get away so it was no surprise to see him bowl the opening over. However, it was Holder who struck the important blow in his first over, with Jamie Smith caught well by Gudakash Motie and there was a real sense of belief in the West Indies ranks.

Ben Duckett and Buttler moved the score along without any fireworks and at 58-1 coming to the end of the power-play, the game was in the balance. When a brilliant catch by Rovman Powell ended Duckett’s stay at the crease, momentum seemed to swing towards the tourists and even a terrible drop by Charles – when Buttler was on 43 – wasn’t punished with the former skipper adding just four more runs before  the visually rattled Charles made amends, and held onto a second opportunity.

At that stage it was 112-3 with just over 7 overs remaining and England were left with a lot to do and their cause was not helped by losing Brook to another Powell catch to leave his side on 126-4 and overs slipping away. However, this England side have quality running right through it and two relatively new-boys seized their moment. First of all Tom Banton coming in at number six, lifted the first ball he faced over the ropes and boundaries suddenly came thick and fast.

Jacob Bethell was just as destructive at the other end smashing the first two balls of over number sixteen into the stands and all of a sudden what looked a challenge had become much more straightforward, with only 28 required off the last 24 balls. Those runs were knocked off with relative ease and when Brydon Carse edged a four with 9 balls left, the game was won.

England’s captain Harry Brook said: “We stuck to our plans through the middle really well, meaning they didn’t get away. We had a discussion before going out to bat, that it was only a matter of a couple of big overs.

“In the end it was a very good performance; we have a lot of depth. With the small boundaries we always felt they were under par by 30 runs and it gives us great confidence having Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton and Will Jacks at five, six and seven.

His opposite number Shai Hope admitted they were a few runs short, taking into account the dimensions of the ground and the quality of the batting surface. “I don’t think we capitalised on the middle overs with the spin, but whatever we have on the board we have to defend it”, he said.

Summing up the development of his side, he continued: “We’re just trying to find the correct roles for everyone to play in every conditions and I think we need to limit as many dot balls as we can, score off more deliveries, run it hard and keep that percentage down, as long as we do that we’ll be a force to be reckoned with.”