Twitter Reactions: Oshane Thomas' fifer and Chris Gayle's whirlwind fifty help Windies draw series

Chris Gayle blew away England with a record fifty in his last ODI on the Caribbean soil as Windies thrashed the visitors by seven wickets in the fifth and final ODI to draw level in the series. After conceding 419 runs in the previous game, Windies needed only 28.1 overs on Saturday to bowl out England for a meager total of 113 before Gayle smashed an outrageous 77 from 27 balls.

England, the top-ranked ODI team in the world, looked clueless on the bouncy track of St Lucia. Asking England to bat first, Windies struck early with Sheldon Cottrell (1-23) dismissing Jonny Bairstow (11) and Jason Holder accounting for Joe Root (1). Alex Hales and Eoin Morgan tried to rebuild and took the score past the 50-run mark but could not last long as the former edged Carlos Brathwaite behind to leave his side reeling at 57 for 3.

Morgan soon joined his teammates in the pavilion after top-edging a Thomas bouncer to Sheldon Cottrell in the deep. Ben Stokes was also bounced out as England found themselves 5 down for just 88. Moeen Ali and in-form Jos Buttler were the latest pair to steady the ship but they could add just 23 runs when Ali edged Thomas behind. Ali’s departure opened the floodgates as England sensationally lost their last five wickets for just 2 runs.

After dismissing Ali, Thomas accounted for Chris Woakes and Buttler in his next over while Holder removed Adil Rashid for a duck. Thomas wrapped up the innings by destroying Tom Curran’s (0) stumps. Curran’s wicket also handed him a five-wicket haul.

And as if England were not humiliated much, Chris Gayle piled more misery on them by launching a stunning assault on them. In the very first over, he blasted two fours and a six to make his intentions clear. Within a blink of an eye, he raced away to 31 before hitting a Chris Woakes delivery straight to Rashid in the deep. But luck was not on England’s side and the delivery was adjudged a no-ball. Gayle made full use of the reprieve, scoring a fifty of just 19 balls, a record for Windies.

By the time he was dismissed, he had sucked the life out of England by smashing a staggering nine sixes, taking his total in the series to a record-breaking 39 in just four innings. Woakes (1-56) then bowled Shai Hope (13) with a slower ball but it only delayed the inevitable as Shimron Hetmyer hit the winning runs from the first ball of the 13th over to square the series.

Here are the best tweets from the game

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