3rd ODI
England 328 (50.0 ov)
West Indies 142 (39.2 ov)
England won by 186 runs
Alex Hales delivered an immediate return on the faith shown in him by the England management as his fifth one-day hundred, a ninth from Joe Root and a merciless bowling display powered the tourists to 186-run win over West Indies and a first ever series whitewash in the Caribbean.
Fit-again after the broken hand that has largely scuppered his winter and restored to the side at the first opportunity in place of Sam Billings, Hales plundered 110 from 107 balls, an innings that, with Root’s 101 from 108, allowed Eoin Morgan’s side to post 328 all from 50 overs after being asked to bat at a Kensington Oval bathed in glorious sunshine.
While a mildly disappointing total for a power-packed team that, on a flat pitch, had reached 219 for one come the 37th over, it always felt too great for an experience-light West Indies side without a successful chase over 300 behind them. Sure enough their resistance was minimal, bowled out for 142 in 39.2 overs as the travelling supporters danced in the party stand.
Amid the harrowing second innings collapse from the hosts that at one stage saw them 87 for eight came a moment of mild catharsis for Ben Stokes, who with his first ball to Carlos Brathwaite since the Bajan’s six-hitting assault on him in the World Twenty20 final last year managed to trap his old nemesis lbw.
This intervention was but a mere cameo, however, with the plaudits among the England attack belonging chiefly to Chris Woakes and Liam Plunkett and their three wickets apiece. The latter, who gutted the middle order in a spell of three for five in five overs, also finished the leading wicket-taker in the series with 10 victims.
England’s first-innings total after being put in had relied heavily on a stand of 192 between Hales and Root, with the former, who lost Jason Roy for 17 duffing a drive to mid-off, making a considerable statement at the end of a frustrating winter. His knock was one of steady accumulation pockmarked by aggressive bursts such that he still scored at over a run a ball before he was caught attempting to murder a sixth six.
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No England batsman before Hales has reached five one-day centuries quicker than his 39 innings and while it was chancy in parts – not least the top-edged six that brought up the milestone from 99 balls and prompted a fist-pumping roar from the 28-year-old – it also featured his trademark long-levered swats through leg.
Root’s century, his 20th in all international cricket and first since becoming England Test captain, followed a run of eight unconverted 50s in one-day internationals and also profited from two reprieves early in the piece, with Evin Lewis putting down a straightforward take at mid-wicket on one and Ashley Nurse a trickier diving effort at wide slip on 12.
Things scarcely got better for Lewis either, with the opener slipping on concrete in a worrying fall beyond the boundary rope when preventing a four. He then spent the rest of the first innings undergoing an x-ray on his left wrist before eventually returning, all clear, to register a third-ball duck in the home side’s reply.
From a scratchy start, and one that saw England post just 39 for one from their first 10 overs, Root began to find greater fluency as he and Hales made up for lost time. The latter targeted Devendra Bishoo in particular, hoisting the leg-spinner for 22 runs in six balls such that West Indies captain Jason Holder had to turn to his part-timers. One of them, Kraigg Brathwaite, had Hales given out lbw on 93 from around the wicket, only for the review to show it missing.
Once the pair were separated, the innings dwindled through a steady procession of wickets. Alzarri Joseph, the slippery young quick in for Shannon Gabriel, picked up four for 76 and only Ben Stokes, 34 from 20 balls, managed to truly cut loose. Plunkett was the last man to fall when run out off the final ball of the innings but not before crashing England’s 10th six.
In keeping with their two defeats in Antigua, West Indies saw their innings derailed from the outset. Finn persuaded Kieran Powell to plop his third ball to Hales at square leg, with his new-ball partner Woakes following it up with the removal of Lewis and Brathwaite in successive overs and equally tame fashion.
Plunkett, in clattering the stumps of Jason Mohammed for 10 and removing Shai Hope and Holder in successive deliveries, made it a case of when and by how many with only some late-order slogs from Joseph, with 22 runs from 13 balls, keeping the margin of defeat under 200 runs.
2nd ODI
ENG 225/6 beat West Indies 225 by four wickets [England lead 3 match series 2-0]
England 226-6 from 48.2 overs
Not out batsmen: Root 90 from 127 balls, Woakes 68 from 83
Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Billings 0), 87-2 (Roy 52), 108-3 (Morgan 7), 113-4 (Stokes 1), 117-5 (Buttler 0), 124-6 (Moeen 3)
Bowling figures: Gabriel 3-0-17-1, Holder 10-0-46-0, C Brathwaite 4-0-38-0, Bishoo 10-0-43-2, Nurse 10-0-34-3, Mohammed 4-0-15-0, K Brathwaite 5.2-0-22-0, Carter 2-0-10-0
West Indies 225 from 47.5 overs
Top scorer: Mohammed 50 from 73 balls
Best bowling: Plunkett 7.5-1-32-3
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Report
It required an unbeaten 102-run seventh-wicket partnership from Joe Root and Chris Woakes to see England clinch their one-day series against West Indies with a match to spare, with the pair rescuing the tourists from a dramatic middle order collapse in Antigua.
Eoin Morgan’s side had come to the Caribbean looking for a workout ahead of the summer’s Champions Trophy and after Friday’s relative cruise this time around they got one, having bowled out the hosts for 225 before finding themselves 124 for six at the halfway point.
Root, 90 not out from 127 balls, and Woakes, unbeaten on 68 from 83, were ice-cool under sunny skies, however, chasing down the target on the tired pitch at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium with 10 balls remaining to take a 2-0 lead into Thursday’s final match in Barbados.
At 87 for one in the 15th over, following the loss of Sam Billings for a golden duck, England looked to be cruising with Jason Roy having already compiled a half-century in 48 balls in a brutal innings of straight hitting that transcended the surface. But his dismissal for 52, caught in the deep attempting to smite a second six, kickstarted the loss of five wickets for 37 in 10 overs.
It was the first three wickets for off-spinner Ashley Nurse, the leading bowler in domestic Caribbean cricket this year, who then trapped Morgan lbw for seven and bowled Moeen Ali neck and crop for three. With leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo teasing edges behind from both Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler in between, England were suddenly six down and still 102 runs short.
Root, who had been watching the chaotic scenes unfold at the other end and had himself survived a sharp caught behind off Bishoo on 54, found an ally in Woakes, however, and with the spinners eventually bowled out – and fast bowler Shannon Gabriel unable to return from the opening burst that removed Billings due to a side-strain – the pair patiently set about their rebuilding job.
Superb innings under pressure, from Joe Root and Chris Woakes, see England home from an unexpectedly difficult position; they now hold an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series
With the all-round talents of Woakes a handy insurance policy down the order, Root had no need to shepherd him and this faith was repaid such that the Yorkshireman missed out on a ninth one-day hundred for himself as the No8 moved to a composed half-century from 65 balls.
Had Rovman Powell, on as a sub for Gabriel, managed to cling on to a chance off Woakes at wide long-on on 42, the pressure the pair eased would have truly returned.
But West Indies, having experienced just four wins from 18 since the last World Cup, were left to rue to the miss and as the shadows lengthened, the heads began to drop. With 12 still needed, their captain, Jason Holder, put Woakes down again.
Woakes’s second of the six innings, off Holder, drew the scores level and brought up the century partnership, with Root then sealing the victory with a pinched single from a misfield with 10 balls to spare – a fitting end to his scampering innings, which included just three boundaries.
Morgan had earlier been bullish at losing the toss, insisting he wanted to field first, and saw his players deliver on the confidence by dismantling West Indies in 46.5 overs with a clinical fielding display. The only blemish was a drop by Ben Stokes – a collector’s item in itself – that saw the all-rounder leave the field for treatment on a finger injury. But while it no doubt induced palpitations in Pune, the Indian Premier League’s new £1.7million man returned unscathed.
Stokes, unused with the ball on Friday, had already struck by this stage with the dismissal of No4 Shai Hope caught behind, adding to Steven Finn’s initial removal of both Evin Lewis and Kieran Powell. The brace had taken Finn to 100 one-day wickets in 67 matches, the second fastest Englishman to hit three figures after Darren Gough and Stuart Broad (both 62); that these were also his first in one-day cricket for 18 months rather summed up the 27-year-old’s enigmatic career to date.
From 46 for three in the 14th over, the home side saw Kraigg Brathwaite, 42, and Jason Mohammed, 50, give the innings some ballast with a stand of 72. But both men were guilty of failing to kick on, with Brathwaite stumped off Moeen the over after Stokes’ drop, and Mohammed chipping Plunkett to Adil Rashid at mid-on.
With the right-armer fooling Jonathan Carter with a slower ball on 29, Morgan then immediately replaced him with Rashid to prey on the desperation of the West Indies at 176 for six in the 40th over. The switch worked, with the leg-spinner knocking over the giant pair of Holder and Carlos Brathwaite – the latter through a neat relay catch between Roy and Billings on the midwicket boundary rope – as they looked to launch sixes.
The resistance was then fully snuffed out by the 48th over when the returning Plunkett bowled Nurse and Buttler smartly ran out last man Gabriel. The No11’s day briefly flickered with the removal of Billings caught at slip but ended with him looking on from the pavilion, injured, as his team-mates gave the tourists an almighty scare but failed to apply the killer blow.
England 328 (50.0 ov)
West Indies 142 (39.2 ov)
England won by 186 runs
Alex Hales delivered an immediate return on the faith shown in him by the England management as his fifth one-day hundred, a ninth from Joe Root and a merciless bowling display powered the tourists to 186-run win over West Indies and a first ever series whitewash in the Caribbean.
Fit-again after the broken hand that has largely scuppered his winter and restored to the side at the first opportunity in place of Sam Billings, Hales plundered 110 from 107 balls, an innings that, with Root’s 101 from 108, allowed Eoin Morgan’s side to post 328 all from 50 overs after being asked to bat at a Kensington Oval bathed in glorious sunshine.
While a mildly disappointing total for a power-packed team that, on a flat pitch, had reached 219 for one come the 37th over, it always felt too great for an experience-light West Indies side without a successful chase over 300 behind them. Sure enough their resistance was minimal, bowled out for 142 in 39.2 overs as the travelling supporters danced in the party stand.
Amid the harrowing second innings collapse from the hosts that at one stage saw them 87 for eight came a moment of mild catharsis for Ben Stokes, who with his first ball to Carlos Brathwaite since the Bajan’s six-hitting assault on him in the World Twenty20 final last year managed to trap his old nemesis lbw.
This intervention was but a mere cameo, however, with the plaudits among the England attack belonging chiefly to Chris Woakes and Liam Plunkett and their three wickets apiece. The latter, who gutted the middle order in a spell of three for five in five overs, also finished the leading wicket-taker in the series with 10 victims.
England’s first-innings total after being put in had relied heavily on a stand of 192 between Hales and Root, with the former, who lost Jason Roy for 17 duffing a drive to mid-off, making a considerable statement at the end of a frustrating winter. His knock was one of steady accumulation pockmarked by aggressive bursts such that he still scored at over a run a ball before he was caught attempting to murder a sixth six.
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No England batsman before Hales has reached five one-day centuries quicker than his 39 innings and while it was chancy in parts – not least the top-edged six that brought up the milestone from 99 balls and prompted a fist-pumping roar from the 28-year-old – it also featured his trademark long-levered swats through leg.
Root’s century, his 20th in all international cricket and first since becoming England Test captain, followed a run of eight unconverted 50s in one-day internationals and also profited from two reprieves early in the piece, with Evin Lewis putting down a straightforward take at mid-wicket on one and Ashley Nurse a trickier diving effort at wide slip on 12.
Things scarcely got better for Lewis either, with the opener slipping on concrete in a worrying fall beyond the boundary rope when preventing a four. He then spent the rest of the first innings undergoing an x-ray on his left wrist before eventually returning, all clear, to register a third-ball duck in the home side’s reply.
From a scratchy start, and one that saw England post just 39 for one from their first 10 overs, Root began to find greater fluency as he and Hales made up for lost time. The latter targeted Devendra Bishoo in particular, hoisting the leg-spinner for 22 runs in six balls such that West Indies captain Jason Holder had to turn to his part-timers. One of them, Kraigg Brathwaite, had Hales given out lbw on 93 from around the wicket, only for the review to show it missing.
Once the pair were separated, the innings dwindled through a steady procession of wickets. Alzarri Joseph, the slippery young quick in for Shannon Gabriel, picked up four for 76 and only Ben Stokes, 34 from 20 balls, managed to truly cut loose. Plunkett was the last man to fall when run out off the final ball of the innings but not before crashing England’s 10th six.
In keeping with their two defeats in Antigua, West Indies saw their innings derailed from the outset. Finn persuaded Kieran Powell to plop his third ball to Hales at square leg, with his new-ball partner Woakes following it up with the removal of Lewis and Brathwaite in successive overs and equally tame fashion.
Plunkett, in clattering the stumps of Jason Mohammed for 10 and removing Shai Hope and Holder in successive deliveries, made it a case of when and by how many with only some late-order slogs from Joseph, with 22 runs from 13 balls, keeping the margin of defeat under 200 runs.
2nd ODI
ENG 225/6 beat West Indies 225 by four wickets [England lead 3 match series 2-0]
England 226-6 from 48.2 overs
Not out batsmen: Root 90 from 127 balls, Woakes 68 from 83
Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Billings 0), 87-2 (Roy 52), 108-3 (Morgan 7), 113-4 (Stokes 1), 117-5 (Buttler 0), 124-6 (Moeen 3)
Bowling figures: Gabriel 3-0-17-1, Holder 10-0-46-0, C Brathwaite 4-0-38-0, Bishoo 10-0-43-2, Nurse 10-0-34-3, Mohammed 4-0-15-0, K Brathwaite 5.2-0-22-0, Carter 2-0-10-0
West Indies 225 from 47.5 overs
Top scorer: Mohammed 50 from 73 balls
Best bowling: Plunkett 7.5-1-32-3
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Report
It required an unbeaten 102-run seventh-wicket partnership from Joe Root and Chris Woakes to see England clinch their one-day series against West Indies with a match to spare, with the pair rescuing the tourists from a dramatic middle order collapse in Antigua.
Eoin Morgan’s side had come to the Caribbean looking for a workout ahead of the summer’s Champions Trophy and after Friday’s relative cruise this time around they got one, having bowled out the hosts for 225 before finding themselves 124 for six at the halfway point.
Root, 90 not out from 127 balls, and Woakes, unbeaten on 68 from 83, were ice-cool under sunny skies, however, chasing down the target on the tired pitch at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium with 10 balls remaining to take a 2-0 lead into Thursday’s final match in Barbados.
At 87 for one in the 15th over, following the loss of Sam Billings for a golden duck, England looked to be cruising with Jason Roy having already compiled a half-century in 48 balls in a brutal innings of straight hitting that transcended the surface. But his dismissal for 52, caught in the deep attempting to smite a second six, kickstarted the loss of five wickets for 37 in 10 overs.
It was the first three wickets for off-spinner Ashley Nurse, the leading bowler in domestic Caribbean cricket this year, who then trapped Morgan lbw for seven and bowled Moeen Ali neck and crop for three. With leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo teasing edges behind from both Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler in between, England were suddenly six down and still 102 runs short.
Root, who had been watching the chaotic scenes unfold at the other end and had himself survived a sharp caught behind off Bishoo on 54, found an ally in Woakes, however, and with the spinners eventually bowled out – and fast bowler Shannon Gabriel unable to return from the opening burst that removed Billings due to a side-strain – the pair patiently set about their rebuilding job.
Superb innings under pressure, from Joe Root and Chris Woakes, see England home from an unexpectedly difficult position; they now hold an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series
With the all-round talents of Woakes a handy insurance policy down the order, Root had no need to shepherd him and this faith was repaid such that the Yorkshireman missed out on a ninth one-day hundred for himself as the No8 moved to a composed half-century from 65 balls.
Had Rovman Powell, on as a sub for Gabriel, managed to cling on to a chance off Woakes at wide long-on on 42, the pressure the pair eased would have truly returned.
But West Indies, having experienced just four wins from 18 since the last World Cup, were left to rue to the miss and as the shadows lengthened, the heads began to drop. With 12 still needed, their captain, Jason Holder, put Woakes down again.
Woakes’s second of the six innings, off Holder, drew the scores level and brought up the century partnership, with Root then sealing the victory with a pinched single from a misfield with 10 balls to spare – a fitting end to his scampering innings, which included just three boundaries.
Morgan had earlier been bullish at losing the toss, insisting he wanted to field first, and saw his players deliver on the confidence by dismantling West Indies in 46.5 overs with a clinical fielding display. The only blemish was a drop by Ben Stokes – a collector’s item in itself – that saw the all-rounder leave the field for treatment on a finger injury. But while it no doubt induced palpitations in Pune, the Indian Premier League’s new £1.7million man returned unscathed.
Stokes, unused with the ball on Friday, had already struck by this stage with the dismissal of No4 Shai Hope caught behind, adding to Steven Finn’s initial removal of both Evin Lewis and Kieran Powell. The brace had taken Finn to 100 one-day wickets in 67 matches, the second fastest Englishman to hit three figures after Darren Gough and Stuart Broad (both 62); that these were also his first in one-day cricket for 18 months rather summed up the 27-year-old’s enigmatic career to date.
From 46 for three in the 14th over, the home side saw Kraigg Brathwaite, 42, and Jason Mohammed, 50, give the innings some ballast with a stand of 72. But both men were guilty of failing to kick on, with Brathwaite stumped off Moeen the over after Stokes’ drop, and Mohammed chipping Plunkett to Adil Rashid at mid-on.
With the right-armer fooling Jonathan Carter with a slower ball on 29, Morgan then immediately replaced him with Rashid to prey on the desperation of the West Indies at 176 for six in the 40th over. The switch worked, with the leg-spinner knocking over the giant pair of Holder and Carlos Brathwaite – the latter through a neat relay catch between Roy and Billings on the midwicket boundary rope – as they looked to launch sixes.
The resistance was then fully snuffed out by the 48th over when the returning Plunkett bowled Nurse and Buttler smartly ran out last man Gabriel. The No11’s day briefly flickered with the removal of Billings caught at slip but ended with him looking on from the pavilion, injured, as his team-mates gave the tourists an almighty scare but failed to apply the killer blow.
1st ODI
England 296/6 (50.0 ov)
West Indies 251 (47.2 ov)
England won by 45 runs
A mature century from Eoin Morgan helped England to victory in the first ODI of the series against West Indies in Antigua. The win was secured with almost three overs to spare, with Chris Woakes and Liam Plunkett taking four wickets apiece.
Morgan, the England captain, had spoken the day before the game about the need for his side to temper their aggressive instincts a little on a surface that he anticipated would do little to encourage stroke-play. It proved an accurate analysis. On a sluggish, slightly two-paced pitch England were precariously placed at 29 for 2 when Morgan walked to the wicket after West Indies had won what appeared to be an important toss in a match delayed by rain.
It took Morgan seven balls to get off the mark and 33 to reach double-figures. But he did not panic. Recognising that this was a surface on which a total of 270 might prove match-winning, he batted accordingly and reached his tenth ODI century - and second in three matches - with his second six in the 49th over of the England innings. It was a masterful demonstration of experience and calculated aggression in conditions demanding more subtlety than aggression.
It was the first time England had failed to post a total of at least 300 when batting first in an ODI since February 2016. But, in these conditions, it was a challenging total and testament, perhaps, to some growing sophistication within an England side that has tended, until now, to try to blast its way to success. Had they attempted to make 350, they could very well have subsided for fewer than 200.
It was Morgan's fifth century as captain, a new record for an England skipper surpassing the four made by Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook.
West Indies will rue two missed chances, though. First Kieran Powell, at slip, was unable to cling on to an outside edge offered by a loose drive off Carlos Brathwaite's first ball when Morgan had just 4, while later Shai Hope was unable to complete a tough catch after a delivery from Jason Mohammed turned, bounced and took Morgan's outside edge when he had 69.
Perhaps more significantly in the grand scheme of things, Morgan also had an escape when he was struck by a bouncer bowled by the impressively sharp Shannon Gabriel. Through a pull shot too early, Morgan was struck on the stemguard but, thanks to the extra protection, he was able to go on and celebrate a fine century in front of a crowd dominated by travelling England supporters. Ticket prices of USD75 appear to have done little to attract local spectators.
Morgan accelerated intelligently after his careful start. He struck the spinners for four fours in eight balls at one stage, going deep in his crease to pull and lofting the ball over mid-off when the man was pulled into the circle, while also clearing his front leg and striking the seamers for his two sixes.
He was given excellent support from Ben Stokes. Stokes, too, ensured he played himself in before going on the attack and it took him 26 deliveries to reach double-figures but once he settled he went on the attack and helped his captain add 110 in 18.4 overs.
Struggling to hit fours on the slow surface and with bug square boundaries, Stokes instead relied on his power. He struck three sixes in 12 balls at one stage - helped by Kraigg Brathwaite stepping over the boundary as he attempted to take a catch at deep midwicket - and registered his sixth score of 50-plus in his last nice ODI innings, from 56 balls.
While he was eventually caught at long-on and Morgan was run-out backing-up - Moeen Ali hit the ball straight back at the bowler, Brathwaite, who threw down the stumps - Moeen contributed 31 from 22 balls to help England plunder exactly 100 runs off the final 10 overs of their innings.
West Indies rarely threatened to get close to their target. After Evin Lewis pulled to deep midwicket, Kieran Powell sent a leading edge to point as he tried to turn one into the leg side, and Kraigg Brathwaite pulled to mid-on. Mohammed and Jonathan Carter added 82 in 13.5 overs to revive West Indies hopes, but when Carter was brilliantly caught by Jason Roy, charging in from deep midwicket, and Mohammed was run-out by some nifty footwork from the bowler, Steven Finn, having been called through for a sharp single, their chase fell away.
England's victory was achieved without the need to use Stokes' bowling skills. The much-anticipated rematch between him and Carlos Brathwaite, therefore, will have to wait. Woakes, who finished with four wickets as reward for an intelligent display of control and variation, dismissed him with a slower ball. Plunkett also finished with four wickets, while Finn, in his first ODI since September 2015, was wicketless but bowled with good control. It was, in short, a good display by England's seamers.
Sam Billings will feel he only partially took his chance to impress having retained his place at the top of the order. He registered his second half-century in three ODI innings to steady England, after Gabriel defeated Roy with one that may have kept a little low and bowled Joe Root with a beauty that cut in off the seam. Billings may feel he squandered a chance to register a really telling total, though, when skipping down the pitch and drilling a catch to mid-on.
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