West Indies easily chased down the target under lights at Kensington Oval, powered by centuries from Keacy Carty and Brandon King to round off the match with eight wickets and secure a 2-1 victory over England in the series.
First cricketer from St Maarten to get an ODI century for West Indies, Keacy Carty’s maiden ton off 97 balls was another highlight of the match for him. It was followed by King who made good use of getting dropped twice and scored his first 50+ score (D0) in ODIs after the World Cup Qualifier in July 2023. Their partnership of 209 runs was the most scored by any West Indies batting pairing in One Day Internationals against England in the history of their encounters.
England had somehow managed to reach what could have been a good competitive score but after a disaster in the start with them being 24 for 4 and losing the first power play England wanted. To the ICL reader, Salt is in good touch, but so is Mousley as England gave a fine performance. Simon Harmer joined for Romario Shepherd due to the injury, substitute Sheridan Rutherford had a horrendous day at the office as England gave themselves a glimmer win.
One reply ball led to a suggestion that conditions for batting had improved and as King in response on the first ball of the over hit the ball through the covers off the opening delivery by Jofra Archer. In the same manner, he batted against the second delivery also which meant Archer’s first three overs went for 24 – and although Jamie Overton managed to grab a first ODI wicket with his third legitimate delivery, was Evin Lewis who made 19 before going out and West Indies were nonetheless on the board.
King completed the power play with Reece Topley who was hit for two fours with King being the batsman this time. The runs have been scored at the faster rate and West Indies were at 65 for 1 after ten overs. And while Carty who in the same over got his first four by cutting Topley behind square, several times against the leg spin from Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone Keacy Carty had some early jitters, but the second wicket partnership quickly closed in at the latter over.
Rashid’s first three overs had yielded just seven runs, however King changed the tone of the innings after hitting him for a six. After edging an attempted catch off Livingstone that slipped past Salt’s gloves with King on 44, the West Indies opener quickly reached a 60-ball fifty, smashing Rashid through midwicket in the next over.
Having been out LBW to Livingstone’s first ball, Keacy Carty reviewed the decision because he felt there was a bat involved. Keacy Carty cut and swept a couple of boundaries in the same over, and later lifted Rashid over the deep midwicket fence as the West Indies steadily reduced the target, successfully negotiating the seven England bowlers. After hitting his fifties in 61 balls, Keacy Carty again hit back-to-back fours off Livingstone, before doing the same to Sam Curran.
Keacy Carty hit Topley for a six that flew into the crowd at deep midwicket and completed the 100. Keacy Carty powered the deep midwicket for a flat batted four, taking over his partner, and then turned 1 over toward four Baker’s left-arm spin while Kemar Harris walked shoulders above the crowd, turning first his head and raising his arms high above, as he was apprehended in adoration.
A similar event occurred at the beginning of the next over when King managed to swipe the same bowler over fine leg for his third century in the format after an uncomposed knock of 86 where he also watched a cut from Archer go through Jordan Cox’s hands in the covers. Topley bowled King with the total requiring 13 runs but it did not matter any more as the target was more or less achieved.
The manner in which West Indies chased their Target easily gave self-explanatory reasons as to why both Samuels and Gayle wanted to bowl first at the toss. Kensington Oval native Shai Hope put it best when he said he ‘was not sure what we are going to get down there but our seamers certainly did as they put England four down and staggering before the end of the first powerplay.
It was still Alzarri Joseph, the West Indies fast bowler, whose unmistakable tempers would steal the show during the limits imposed gor the English number three Cox, who had Alzarri Joseph up in arms whilst engaged in the aforementioned tussle with Hope around the start of the day’s first session.
As a result of Joseph’s clearly visible frustration, he remonstrated with his skipper throughout his run-up whilst performing the action on the jack, with the batter in question hardly even getting a glimpse of the delivery going at 148 kph/92 mph. After the over, Joseph walked back and it was only then that West Indies were a man down in the field for a brief moment before the sight eventually returned to normal.
Matthew Forde had already struck in his second over and it was amusing to watch Matthew Ford get hit for a Meet Will – A meeting that in some ways was not destined to go unattended. Gregory Bethell tried to push, only to be taken by the extending torso of Roston Chase at point. For Joseph, Walking from point A to point B was not as difficult as watching the English top order in sinking motion down to 24 for with one ball remaining in the power play innings.
Among the batters from England who remained undefeated, Salt was one of them. In the second ODI, he batted for the entire powerplay for the first time since June 2022. He however managed to perform better in Barbados where, while shaking off rustiness, he scored 11 off 26 balls and came out unscathed during battling conditions.
He made partnerships with Curran and Mousley, who contributed to 70 runs each for the fifth and sixth wickets respectively. Again batting at number six, Curran was aggressive throughout the innings but was dismissed aiming to hit off spinner Chase. Salt then took time to build his innings with Mousley and managed to score fifty in 79 deliveries which was his slowest to date in ODIs.
England finished the 40th over on 163 for 5 wickets but lost Salt in the next over when King’s athleticism on the deep midwicket resulted in a comfortable relay catch taken by Joseph. After, Shepherd seemingly hurt himself and his boots caught the turf as he had to be assisted off the field again where the change of momentum occurred once more. Mousley went soon after reaching the fifty but the cameos by Overton (32 off 21 balls) and Archer (38 not out off 17) helped bloody Rutherford’s medium pace and a hundred runs were leaked in the last ten overs. Following King and Carty’s dominance , it turned out to be a mere annotation.