by England used nine bowlers in an ODI innings for only the second time in their history, but Shai Hope’s century underpinned a big West Indies total as they look to secure a series victory.
Only Jordan Cox and wicketkeeper Phil Salt did not return the arm as Liam Livingstone shuffled his pack repeatedly, often to little effect as the Windies set an ODI ground record of 328 for six after losing the draw.
Hope gave a masterclass in how to anchor a 50-over innings with 117 in 127 balls, first putting on a restorative stand of 143 with Keacy Carty (71 off 77) after John Turner caught the Windies’ first two matches, then 79 with Sherfane Rutherford, who contributed a supercharged 54 off 36 in Antigua.
England have scored four chances of varying difficulty and must chase down a total of over 300 for the first time since July 2021 to avoid a second series defeat in a week, having lost 2-1 in the Pakistan Tests.
It was only in the 1987 World Cup against Sri Lanka in Peshawar that England used nine bowlers in an innings, but this seemed unlikely at first as Turner caught the Windies’ first two openers in 19 balls.
King angled towards backward point, where Cox made an outstanding catch diving to his left, while Evin Lewis followed up his match-winning 94 by getting a leg-length choke, with Turner getting some of the luck which escaped him during the opening defeat of the English series. THURSDAY.
Carty gifted a half-chance in eight after England stationed three fielders at that point, one of them swinging to Jacob Bethell while Hope, on 17, miserably missed mid-wicket past Saqib Mahmood , to replace Jamie Overton in England’s only change.
Hope elevated Turner and Adil Rashid for sixes while hitting a Bethell over midwicket after lifting his first ODI fifty in nine innings – dating back to England’s last tour in December.
He and Carty were otherwise content to rebuild from a modest 15-for-two deck.
Hope gifted just one chance in 60 after being caught out by Bethell’s extra bounce and hitting a cut shot, but Salt couldn’t hang on behind the stumps.
Carty hooked Archer for six and was then dropped by Turner on 68 for a similar shot. It didn’t prove too costly as Rashid’s googly put Carty, who didn’t seem able to read the leg-spinner, through the gate.
Rutherford, however, wasted no time in upping the ante in a brutal cameo, depositing Turner and Livingstone for the leg-side six, with Hope happy to play second fiddle.
He conjured up a 35-ball half-century with a six off Livingstone before perishing off his next delivery as the England captain gained some revenge.
Shimron Hetmyer was then felled for three in the deep by Will Jacks and took off three sixes as he made 24 off just 11 balls before deceiving Rashid in the field.
Hope went to 100 off 118 balls before picking Jofra Archer at long-on, but the Windies finished on top as Matthew Forde (23 off 11) smashed three consecutive sixes in the final over, taking the total number of maximums to 14 .
