(Cricket News) With a hard-fought six-wicket victory under the floodlights in Antigua, England squared their three-match series against the West Indies. Sam Curran and Jos Buttler returned to form with the ball and bat, respectively, while Will Jacks further demonstrated his credentials as an opener with a crucial half-century on an occasionally unpredictable pitch.
Ultimately, it was a simple enough match, especially after England’s senior duo of Harry Brook and captain Buttler overcame a mid-innings lull to surge past a mediocre target of 203 with an uninterrupted fifth-wicket stand of 90 from 78 balls.
After being sorely lacking in form during that disastrous World Cup campaign, Buttler felt the scales finally fall from his eyes as he blasted the leg spinner Yannic Cariah for back-to-back sixes over long-on, then raced to his first half-century in 14 innings with a signature wristy drive off Oshane Thomas. He ended up unbeaten at 58 from 45 balls, and Brook sealed the victory with 103 balls remaining unused. The series now heads to Saturday’s Barbados match.
Though they managed a partial recovery thanks to a half-century apiece from captain Shai Hope and their newest recruit Sherfane Rutherford, they lost their last six wickets for 50 runs in their next ten overs, with England’s spinners Rehan Ahmed and Liam Livingstone sharing five.
It was not, however, the most taxing assignment of England’s recent ODI history. The outcome was hardly in doubt from the moment that West Indies, asked to bat first, had stumbled to 23 for 4 in the first seven overs of the match.
The outcome was never really in doubt after Jacks and Phil Salt struck for 50 runs in the first six overs of their reply. Jacks had a violent attitude towards anything that looked even slightly off-line, and in his 72 balls, he hacked six fours and four sixes, the most notable of which was an astonishing inside-out launch through a wide yorker from Thomas.
