Analysis: England won a hard-fought six-wicket victory in Antigua to square 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. 

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. 

England won a hard-fought six-wicket victory in Antigua under the floodlights to square their three-match series against the West Indies.

Before hitting his first half-century in 14 innings with a signature wristy drive off Oshane Thomas, Buttler blasted leg spinner Yannic Cariah for back-to-back sixes over long-on.

Brook sealed the victory with 103 balls to spare and the series now moves on to its final match on Saturday in Barbados.

When West Indies, assigned to bat first, collapsed to 23 for 4 in the opening seven overs of the match, the outcome was 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). 

Before Shepherd could make a huge move, Rehan baited him with a mishandled slog to long-on, and Rehan was able to finish with another extremely excellent spell of 10-1-40-2.

West Indies lost their last six wickets for 50 runs in the ten overs, with England’s spinners Rehan Ahmed and Liam Livingstone sharing five wickets between them.

The result was never much in doubt when Jacks and Phil Salt blasted out of the blocks to set a 50-run opening stand in the first six overs of their reply. 

In his 72-ball stay, Jacks, who had a furious attitude towards anything even slightly off-line, smashed six fours and four sixes, the most eye-catching of which was an astonishing inside-out rocket through a wide yorker from Thomas.

Within 20 overs, England was four down and facing a test that might try their already weakened resolve. Buttler and Brook made sure the threat remained temporary.

BEST PERFORMANCES – BATTERS

WG Jacks ENG

73 runs (72) 6 fours 4 sixes

SD Hope WI

68 runs (68) 6 fours 1 six

BEST PERFORMANCES – BOWLERS

SM Curran ENG

O          7

M         0

R        33

W       3

ECO   4.71

LS Livingstone ENG

O        6

M       0

R      39

W       3

ECO 6.5

PARTNERSHIPS

West Indies

SD Hope                     SE Rutherford

62 (58)       129 (138)     63 (80)

AS Joseph                   R Shepherd

8 (7)            26 (18)       18 (11)

England

PD Salt                     WG Jacks

21 (15)       50 (35)    26 (20)

JC Buttler                HC Brook

58 (45)       90* (78) 31 (33)

PLAYER OF THE MATCH

Sam Curran ENG

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