by England battled hard, but their first ODI series since the World Cup debacle ended with the West Indies coming to a nail-biting decider in Barbados.
Chasing an adjusted Duckworth-Lewis-Stern target of 188 in 34 overs after several rain breaks, the Windies lurched from 99 for two to 135 for six after Will Jacks’ unlikely three-wicket haul.
But after Jacks and Rehan Ahmed were dismissed, leaving the Windies needing 33 off the last four, Romario Shepherd welcomed Gus Atkinson’s quick return with back-to-back sixes to the tide to turn
Atkinson fired 24 from the over and Shepherd led the Windies to a four-wicket victory, with 14 balls to spare, with a decisive 41 not out from 28 balls alongside debutant Matthew Forde (13 no).
Forde took three for 29 earlier as England fell to 49 for five, with captain Jos Buttler out for a golden duck after a misjudged hook by Alzarri Joseph took a top edge and ballooned to the fine leg fielder.
Ben Duckett’s superb 71 off 73 balls, putting on 88 with Liam Livingstone (45), dug England out of a hole and was the backbone of their 206 for nine in 40 balls, with the lower order adding some grit with him.
A 2-1 loss in their first assignment would hardly have been the start Buttler and head coach Matthew Mott would have wanted in this post-World Cup reset, but a classy collapse left them with a mountain to climb when they were first asked to bat. when play started recently after a two-hour rain delay.
England’s openers had made four successive partnerships of 50 or more, but were separated in the next with Phil Salt’s lame chip just about carried to Joseph.
Forde’s day got better when Zak Crawley shaped a departure but the ball rose wide, thudded into his gloves and looped into the slots.
The rookie’s only miss was when he missed on the boundary after Duckett’s brilliant pull, which gave the left-hander the first of three fours but Forde got away in his debut another, hitting a nagging length and finding a bit of shape to build the head. edge jacks.
Things went from bad to worse in the 10th over for England when Joseph’s direct attack managed to make Harry Brook dive and Buttler’s blood pressure to his first delivery left him five.
There have been some epic falls in the Caribbean in recent years in England and this threatened for a while to add to the list of unknowns, but Duckett and Livingstone stabilized the tourists.
Duckett was superb, strong on his favorite cuts and pulls off the back foot but eluded his usual sweeps to the spinners until he changed to an unpredictable pitch.
After 50 overs, the left-armer and then Livingstone came up in front, each hammering sixes from Joseph but both perished when they were too early to keep the balls up in the field. Duckett got the lead in the equator and in Shepherd’s next, Livingstone went into the mid-day.
After a 45-minute rain delay saw England’s innings reduced from 43 to 40 balls, the closing duo of Atkinson and Matthew Potts got them past 200 with an unbroken stand of 35 off 29 balls.
Another breakdown took more of the air out of the game and meant a reformed goal, with England going ahead after eight deliveries when Brandon King hit Atkinson to Jacks on the ring.
Although Sam Curran found great movement and Potts, for Brydon Carse, was ill, there was no further progress when Buttler turned on Ahmed in the ninth over. Alick Athanaze edged the leg-spinner before Carty ended his overdrive for another four.
Ahmed cut Athanaze’s off-stump without letting go of the bails, trickling England into a review caught behind, before Atkinson returned to pick the left-handed opener lbw five short of his 50.
After Shai Hope clicked Ahmed’s wickets tightly at midwicket, Buttler opted to spin at both ends on a pitch that was becoming increasingly worn and had a great turn on offer.
Jacks capitalized as Shimron Hetmyer lobbed to a point and Sherfane Rutherford punched out. Carty, who missed two simple catches when the Windies fielded, made a crucial 50 but gave Jacks a catch back.
Jacks edged Shepherd two balls later but the ball went away for four and the Windies big man threw his arms at Ahmed to relieve some of the building pressure.
Buttler opted to turn to Atkinson after Ahmed and Jacks bowed out but the season delivered two full throws that were over the rope, the first after a fumble by Livingstone.
There was no coming back from that for England and Shepherd sealed the win in the next round of Livingstone with a four-man sweep.
