(ESPN Cricinfo) – Win the toss, win the match – win the series. Jos Buttler’s third correct call of the T20I series resulted in yet another successful chase, as England beat the West Indies by three wickets at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground to take an unassailable 3-0 lead.
This, however, was the toughest ask, despite a target of 146 being the lowest of the three so far. Once again, the West Indies scrapped to a respectable total from a dire position of 37 for 5. Saqib Mahmood took 3 for 17, once again bossing the powerplay, before Jamie Overton gutted the middle order with 3 for 20 after Rovman Powell’s 54 and 30 from Romario Shepherd rebuilt from the wreckage.
But Akeal Hosein’s 4 for 22 kept the West Indies in the hunt right to the end. Sam Curran’s 41 off 26, along with a run-a-ball 32 from Will Jacks, had just kept England on course. Liam Livingstone’s 39 removed what jeopardy there was.
Livingstone was lucky to be out there long enough to have that impact, having been dropped three times. The first, on 6, was the easiest – Nicholas Pooran shelling a top-edged hook off Alzarri Joseph, returning from his two-match suspension as one of three changes.
Pooran then shelled an edge off Gudakesh Motie when Livingstone had 8, before Motie missed out again when Shimron Hetmyer failed to clasp a tough low chance at deep midwicket. Livingstone had 21 at the time and, in the next over, took 16 off Joseph to put England in front before holing out to long-on as Hosein’s fourth. Rehan Ahmed, drafted in for the rested Adil Rashid, had the honour of carving the winning runs over point.
West Indies rung the changes with the trio of Joseph, Shai Hope, and Hetmyer drafted in for Matthew Forde and Brandon King – both injured – and Sherfane Rutherford. And yet they still endured another botched start.
Hope lasted just two balls, run out by Jacob Bethell at backward point after aborting what looked like a comfortable single. That was the first of four powerplay wickets to fall across 17 deliveries, including the destructive left-handers Evin Lewis and Pooran through wayward hacks against Mahmood and Jofra Archer, respectively.
Mahmood was not done there, nicking off Roston Chase before Hetmyer followed his fellow southpaws with another woeful heave, caught deep square leg. With two matches to play, the Lancashire quick’s eight powerplay wickets are already the most for an England bowler in any series during that period of a T20I.
Powell and Shepherd – West Indies top-scorers in the series – set about another face-saving stand, this one an impressive 73 from just 57 deliveries. But no sooner had they reached a respectable 110 for 5 after 15 overs, Overton instigated a collapse with three dismissals in seven deliveries, dismissing both set batters.
A breezy 28 for the ninth wicket between Gudakesh Motie and Joseph gave them something to work with. Alas, it was the same old story, albeit one that confirmed only England’s second T20I series win in the last two years.
Overton’s window opens again
Overton had a peculiar start to this tour. A long overdue ODI debut in the first match at Antigua came as a specialist No. 8 batter – a continuation of a frustrating period without bowling. A stress fracture of the back that robbed him of a place in England’s T20 World Cup plans at the start of the summer was still holding him back.
His three-for in St. Lucia, however, was a welcome return to business. Two weeks on from operating as a lower-order batter by circumstance, he was back to the bowling all-rounder he is by design.
England have long-viewed the 30-year-old as an ace up their sleeve. Since moving on from Liam Plunkett after the 2019 ODI World Cup win, they have been shorn of an effective middle-overs bowler possessing the ability to hammer an awkward length and a nous for unpredictability. While Brydon Carse has auditioned well enough, Overton may have just given selectors a reason to recast the role.
The nature of Overton’s trio of dismissals was particularly heartening. Shepherd was flummoxed by a slower ball, then Gudakesh Motie caught at mid-off, undone by a short ball that followed the left-hander more than he’d have liked. Powell’s clothing of a short ball out to deep midwicket came about through a smartly executed cross-seam delivery that avoided the middle of the bat.
These are still early days in Overton’s international career. This, after all, is only his seventh cap in limited-overs cricket, and his fitness cannot be taken for granted. Nevertheless, his fourth-best figures in 146 T20 appearances outright – taking him to 100 wickets in the format – was a welcome sight. He would also have enjoyed being out there at the end, as victory was sealed.
Curran shows batting chops (again)
Perhaps the biggest compliment you could pay Curran is that it did not look like he was in a hurry in Saint Lucia. This despite his vital 41 taking up just 26 deliveries.
But for the sweat drenching his red shirt, he was a picture of calm. At ease on a skiddy pitch, unflustered in a situation that was fraught when he arrived at the crease midway through the final over of the powerplay. England were 37 for 3, needing 109 from 87 balls, with a middle order that had not seen action in the series so far now having to bear the load. Caressing his first ball through point for four, Curran immediately looked up for the task. Consecutive boundaries through the same region in the next over reiterated that.
Curran would wait 19 deliveries for his next boundary – clumping Motie down the ground for six – but the time in between was not wasted. He ticked over nicely, initially with Jacks, then with Livingstone, in what was a clinic in quiet, steady accumulation. He had faced just one dot ball before scything Terrance Hinds to Shai Hope at deep point.
Since starring as the player of the tournament at the 2022 T20 World Cup with 13 dismissals, Curran has only equalled that tally in 21 T20Is since and remains wicket-less across his nine overs so far in these first three games. But this score, along with 37, 52, and 40 in the ODI series – where he also failed to register in the wicket column – suggests he might be in the midst of reinventing himself as a vital batter for England’s white-ball needs.
Powell stands tall
Who knows just how one-sided this series would have been were it not for Powell. For the second time in as many matches, it was the skipper who had to single-handedly steady the ship.
Captaining the West Indies is never a straightforward gig, least of all when you find yourself batting in the first six overs when you’re carded at No. 5. For the third time in a week, Powell arrived to an early mess.
On all three occasions, he met fire with fire, this time making it through to an eighth 50-plus score. Arriving in the fourth over, he kept looking for boundaries despite Mahmood and Archer making merry with the new ball. The former was struck over cover, and the latter blazed extravagantly into the stands in the same region before the fielding restrictions were lifted.
He struck three more sixes, two of them lifted down the ground off legspinner Rehan, who was making his first T20I appearance in almost a year. Powell’s last lusty blow – sending a Curran half-tracker over square leg – took him to eight sixes in the series, the most on either side.
Powell then went on to marshal well in the second innings, nailing his bowling plans, backed up with smart field placements. Had catches been held, he might have had more to show for it.
