Image Credit- Getty
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 rather simple, especially after
England’s senior duo of Harry Brook and captain Buttler overcame a mid-innings
lull and accelerated over a poor mark of 203 with an uninterrupted fifth-wicket
partnership of 90 from 78 balls.
After hitting back-to-back sixes off legspinner Yannic
Cariah over long-on, Buttler, who had been utterly out of form during that
miserable World Cup campaign, felt the scales finally drop from his eyes. He
then raced to his first half-century in 14 innings with a signature wristy
drive off Oshane Thomas. With 103 balls remaining unexplored, Brook sealed the
victory with an undefeated fifty-eight from 45 balls. The series now moves on
to its final match on Saturday in Barbados.
Still, it was not the most trying assignment in recent
ODI history for England. Since the West Indies, who were asked to bat first,
had collapsed to 23 for 4 in the first seven overs of the contest, the outcome
was, in fact, all but certain. They recovered somewhat, though, thanks to a
half-century each from Sherfane Rutherford and captain Shai Hope (both of whom
made 129 runs). However, they lost their final six wickets for 50 runs in their
next ten overs, with England’s spinners Rehan Ahmed and Liam Livingstone
sharing five wickets between them.
Subsequently, the outcome was never genuinely in doubt
after Jacks and Phil Salt struck a 50-run opening partnership in the first six
overs of their reply. In his 72-ball stay, Jacks, who had a savage attitude
towards anything even slightly off-line, chopped six fours and four sixes, the
most notable of which was an astonishing inside-out rocket through a wide
yorker from Thomas.