WI v ENG, 3rd ODI Review: Hales, Root smash centuries, England complete clean sweep

England won the 3rd and the final ODI of the bilateral series against West Indies at the Kensington Oval in Barbados by 187 runs to complete a 3-0 clean sweep. It was a great team effort from the visitors as they outplayed the hosts in all three departments of the game. Riding on the back of brilliant centuries by comeback man Alex Hales and the mainstay in the English batting order Joe Root, England posted a mammoth 328 on the board.

The hosts never got going and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. They were reduced to 45/6 at one stage before Jonathan Carter ensured the Caribbeans went past the hundred mark. They were eventually bowled out for 142 in the 40th over. It was a great all-round performance for the visitors making light work of the below par Caribbeans.

Winning the toss, West Indies captain Jason Holder put the visitors in. Jason Roy began with a crisp boundary in the very first over of Holder which set things rolling for the visitors. Alex Hales who missed the last couple of matches after injuring his hand during the ODI series in India also joined in the act and smashed Holder for a scorching boundary towards the point region.

Youngster Alzari joseph provided the hosts with the initial breakthrough with the wicket of swashbuckling batsman Jason Roy. Joe Root joined Hales in the middle and was dropped immediately after he came out in the middle. He made the hosts pay as the duo of Hales and Root plundered the West Indies bowlers all around the Kensington Oval. The duo rotated the strike along and kept the scoreboard ticking.

Also read: Australian newspaper accuse Virat Kohli of hurling bottle towards team official

Hales struck the first six of the match in the 19th over of leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo and added one more in his very next over along with two fours. Hales kept finding the boundaries on the consistent as Ashley Nurse was smashed for a couple of boundaries in the 25th over. Root too started finding the gaps regularly and improved his strike rate drastically. Hales reached the elusive three-figure mark in the 35th over of Alzari Joseph top edging him for a big six over the third man region.

Just after making his 5th ODI century, Hales was dismissed by Joseph in the 37th over with a well-disguised slower delivery. Jos Buttler came out in the middle to keep the momentum going and he made his intentions pretty clear with a straight six in the 2nd ball of his innings. It was a free hit and the wicket keeper batsman made full use of it. He departed in the next over of Jason Holder.

Morgan joined Root, smashed a big six and departed. The sheet anchor finally brought up his century in the 43rd over and was dismissed immediately after reaching the three-figure mark just like Hales. Stokes struck some lusty blows and scored 34 of 20 deliveries with 4 fours and a solitary six as England ended with a big score of 328 in their allotted 50 overs.

The hosts were never in the chase from the word go losing the first three wickets within the first 4 overs. Kieron Powell was the first to head back to the pavilion of the bowling of Steven Finn as the southpaw was in two minds whether to defend or attack and eventually gave an easy catch to the square leg fielder. His partner Evin Lewis too departed shortly in the next over of Chris Woakes.

Also read: Watch: Tamim Iqbal hilariously runs himself out, a perfect example of “brain fade”

It was an attempted pull from the southpaw but was beaten for pace and bounce. The slip fielder positioned himself and completed an easy catch. Chris Woakes then dismissed Kraigg Brathwaite in the 4th over as the hosts were tottering at 11/3 in 3.4 overs. Shai Hope and Jason Mohammed joined hands to rebuild the innings but their venture came to an end in the 13th over with the dismissal of Mohammed. It was a full and straight delivery from Liam Plunkett which breached his defence and disturbed the timbers.

Plunkett removed Hope in the 17th over and followed it up with rival captain Jason Holder’s wicket in the very next delivery. With the score reading 45/6, World T20 hero Carlos Brathwaite and hard-hitting left-hander Jonathan Carter looked to stabilise the innings with some sensible batting.

Carter looked in very good touch and struck 4 boundaries in total during his brief stay in the crease. Meanwhile, Brathwaite was dismissed in the 29th over but Carter still kept going and took West Indies past the hundred mark. He looked during his innings of 46 before falling to Steven Finn. The hosts eventually fell way short of the England total and the 187 runs win is the biggest win in terms of runs in an England-West Indies ODI match. Plunkett and Woakes were the wreckers in chief for the visitors finishing with 3 wickets each.

Brief Scores

England 328 all-out in 50 overs (Alex Hales 110, Joe Root 101, Alzari Joseph 4/76)

West Indies 142 all-out in 39.2 overs (Jonathan Carter 46, Chris Woakes 3/16, Liam Plunkett 3/27)

England won by 187 runs

Series- England won the 3 match ODI series 3-0.