Debutant Matthew Forde’s sensational all-round effort (3/29 and 13* off 16 balls) combined with Romario Shepherd’s brilliance with the willow in hand helped West Indies clinch an ODI series against England for the first time since 1998 at home as they sealed the series decider by four wickets (DLS method) at the Kensington Oval in Barbados on Saturday, December 9.
Player of the Match (POTM) Forde who replaced Oshane Thomas in the playing XI, proved his captain Shai Hope right as he demolished the English top order up front. Forde got the better of Phil Salt, Zack Crawley and Will Jacks who was the star for England in the previous game with the bat in hand to leave the tourists languishing at 3/45.
Alzarri Joseph added to England’s misery soon as he ran Harry Brook out before he could get his eye in and removed the English skipper Jos Buttler for a golden duck with a bumper. Buttler failed to keep the pull shot in control and miscued it as it was held safely by Gudakesh Motie at the fine leg boundary.
The Three Lions were five down inside the first ten overs of the game and were starting down the barrel. However, an 88-run stand between Ben Duckett (71 of 73 balls) and Liam Livingstone (45 off 56 deliveries) rescued the 2019 ODI World Cup champions from a precarious situation.
Shepherd ended England’s resistance as he removed both Duckett and Livingstone within a gap of 16 balls and helped the Men in Maroon claw their way back into the contest. England posted 206 on the board after the rain curtailed the contest to 40 overs per side.
The rain came back to halt the contest again and the Windies were asked to chase down a revised target of 188 in 34 overs. The hosts lost Brandon King in the second over but it didn’t deter the duo of Alick Athanaze (45 off 51 balls) and Keacy Carty (50 off 58 deliveries) from the task at hand.
The pair added 76 runs for the second wicket and laid the foundation of the historic run chase. Despite the stutter in the middle overs that saw Hope, Shimron Hetmyer and Sherfane Rutherford getting dismissed cheaply, the Windies got home with four wickets as Shepherd put on a power-hitting masterclass at the end to pull curtains on the ODI leg of the series.
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