England beat West Indies by seven wickets in the third T20I at the National Cricket Stadium in Grenada to keep the five match series alive at 2-1.
West Indies were sent into bat for the second time this series and made an impressive 222 for six in their 20 overs, but England rediscovered their batting mojo to win with a ball to spare, finishing on 226 for three, thanks to Phil Salt’s devastating maiden T20I hundred.
This match featured the second highest number of sixes (34) hit in an international T20 game with the most coming in a match last year between South Africa and West Indies at Centurion (35).
Touring captain Jos Buttler won the toss for the second match in succession and chose to field. That decision was vindicated early on when openers Brandon King (8) and Kyle Mayers (0) were dismissed to leave the hosts 8-2 after 1.3 overs.
That was as good as it got for England’s bowlers as the hosts struck 16 sixes and 14 boundaries to post the highest T20I score at this venue. Former captain Nicholas Pooran shone brightest with the bat with an outstanding knock of 82 runs from 45 balls as he combined astuteness with devastation. Captain Rovman Powell (39 runs from 21 balls), Sherfane Rutherford (29 runs from 17 balls) and Jason Holder (18 runs from 5 balls) also produced muscular cameos.
Staring down the barrel of another series defeat in the Caribbean, openers Buttler and Salt produced the spark that reignited the batting prowess of the defending T20 World Champions. Runs flowed instantly as the pair raced to 73 runs after the powerplay and put on a century stand at the halfway mark. Buttler was dismissed one ball after reaching his 22nd score of 50 or more in T20Is and the momentum instantly swung towards the hosts.
Unlike England earlier, Powell was able to cap the run rate at 10, primarily through the use of left arm spinner Gudakesh Motie, who bowled four overs for just 30 runs and picked up the wicket of Will Jacks (1) who was in at three.
With seven overs left, England still needed 102 runs, but Salt kept them in the contest when he put on a 70-run partnership in 34 balls with Liam Livingstone. The right handed opener smashed Jason Holder for back-to-back sixes to bring up his first T20I and went some way toward repaying the faith put in him by the coaching staff. Livingstone held out with 37 runs still required from 13 balls, but in strode Harry Brook, the tourists’ newest batting sensation. The Yorkshireman signalled his intent by launching his first ball for six.
Alzarri Joseph did brilliantly well to concede just 10 runs from the penultimate over to leave all rounder and previous match winner Andre Russell with 21 runs to defend. What followed was absolute carnage as Brook went 4, 6, 6, 2 and 6 to send the Barmy Army into delirium and achieve the second highest run chase in the final over of T20I cricket.
The series concludes with two matches in Tarouba, Trinidad at the Brian Lara Stadium with the on Tuesday and Thursday. (JC)