England had to lose the last match despite coming closer to victory due to Shai Hope’s extraordinary batting. Jos Buttler’s team did not make that mistake again this time. They defeated West Indies by a big margin in the second match of the series. England bested West Indies by 6 wickets on Wednesday night (December 6) at the Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua. Sam Curran, who was lackluster with the ball in the last match, was adjudged the player of the match in this game.
After losing the toss, West Indies could not score more than 202 runs in the first innings. In response, the English reached the port of victory with 17.1 overs in hand. West Indies, who were impeccable with the bat in the last match, fell into disaster at the beginning of the day. The hosts lost the wickets of the first 4 batters for the team’s 23 runs. Sherfane Rutherford and Shai Hope rescued the team from there. The duo made a partnership of 129 runs in the fifth wicket.
Liam Livingstone returned Rutherford who scored 63 runs. After this wicket, the Windies’ middle and lower order collapsed like a house of cards. The hosts could not score more than 52 runs with their last 5 wickets. Captain Hope scored 68 runs off 68 balls for West Indians. There were 6 fours and 1 six. Sam Curran took the highest number of 3 wickets for England with only 33 runs in 7 overs. Liam Livingstone also picked up 3 wickets conceding 39 runs in 6 overs. Gus Atkinson and Rehan Ahmed scalped 2 wickets each for England.
England got off to a flying start chasing the target. Romario Shepherd broke the opening pair of Philip Salt and Will Jacks. Salt scored 21 runs off 15 balls. Zak Crawley (3) was then sent back to the crease by Gudakesh Motie. Ben Duckett (3) also returned to the pavilion in quick succession.
Opener Jacks returned to the dressing room after scoring 73 runs off 72 balls by part-time bowler Rutherford. He had 6 fours and 4 sixes in this innings. The English are still 87 runs away from victory. There was some fear of losing the sure win, but captain Jos Buttler did not let it grow.
The in-form English captain played an unbeaten innings of 58 off 45 balls. That’s why England reached the port of victory too early. Buttler’s innings was studded with 4 fours and 3 sixes. Harry Brook ended up unbeaten on 43 off 49 balls, with an even number of 2 fours and sixes.
Gudakesh Motie took a maximum of 2 wickets, the leading number in the West Indies. Besides, Romario Shepherd and Sherfane Rutherford took 1 wicket each. The two teams will meet at Kensington Oval next Saturday (9th December) in the series decider match.
West Indies – 202/10 (39.4)
England – 206/4 (32.5)
Result – England won by 6 wickets
Player of the match – Sam Curran
Sam Curran
West Indies | Shai Hope (c & wk), Brandon King, Alick Athanaze, Keacy Carty, Sherfane Rutherford, Shimron Hetmyer, Romario Shepherd, Yannic Cariah, Alzarri Joseph, Gudakesh Motie, and Oshane Thomas. |
England | Jos Buttler (c & wk), Will Jacks, Philip Salt, Zak Crawley, Harry Brook, Ben Duckett, Liam Livingstone, Brydon Carse, Sam Curran, Rehan Ahmed, and Gus Atkinson. |
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