In a close duel, Shai Hope’s unbeaten 43 guided West Indies to a four-wicket triumph against England and a 3-2 Twenty20 series win.
In the finale, England were bowled out for 132, and although the West Indies never got into a groove, Hope kept their response together and eventually won the game with a smashing six over extra-cover off the second ball of the last over.
West Indies won their third consecutive T20 international series in 2023, as they prepare to host the World Cup for the shortest format in June.
It was a dismal finale to Jos Buttler’s England’s mini-tour, since they had already lost the 50-over series in the Caribbean 2-1.
The low-scoring game contrasted sharply with England’s team-record 267 on Tuesday, but with the conditions favoring the spinners, West Indies were able to add to their T20i series victories against South Africa and India.
The Brian Lara Academy’s surface suited spinners, and slow left-armer Gudakesh Motie took full advantage, scooping up three wickets for 24 runs in four overs.
Akeal Hosein, the West Indies’ second left-arm orthodox spinner, contributed two for 20 in four overs as the hosts limited England to the lowest mark recorded in the series.
England captain Buttler was caught by Oshane Thomas after stepping outside the off-stump and attempting to turn seamer Jason Holder down the leg-side.
Hosein then bowled Jacks before a magnificent delivery from Motie, who won the reward wicket of Phil Salt (38).
Salt had struck quick century in each of England’s past two games, which they won to tie the series at 2-2.
Motie caught and bowled Liam Livingston for 28, and Moeen Ali was aggressive before being caught by a teamwork effort with Andre Russell sending the ball to captain Rovman Powell as he moved towards the boundary rope.
England were bowled out with three balls left in their 20-over total when Sam Curran was caught off Holder by Sherfane Rutherford.
The home side’s reply got off to a flying start, with 20 off the first two overs before Brandon King was removed by Topley, and there was optimism for England when Woakes bowled Nichola Pooran.
But Sherfane Rutherford (30) and Hope put on a 41-run stand to stabilize the innings, only for England to apply late pressure when Rashid removed Rutherford and Powell was caught by Topley in the 17th over.
Sam Curran, West Indies’ left-arm seamer, played a brilliant penultimate over, dismissing Andre Russell and surrendering just two runs to leave West Indies needing nine runs off the last over.
Significant Hope
Holder’s inside edge enabled West Indies to scamper three runs before Woakes went full and wide to Hope, who slammed the ball over the rope to the joy of the home fans.
“We kept on losing wickets at key times but we always knew that Shai Hope was going to be an important man on this wicket,” Powell went on to say.
“We realized this wasn’t a wicket that offered a lot of shots but if we have someone in the middle order who can get to 40 off 35 balls, that would serve us as batting group well,” he said.
Buttler said that England had paid the price for attempting to push shots early in their innings.
“We most likely did not adapt quickly enough.” I believed 160 would have been a good score to defend. “We needed wickets to try to win the game, and I thought we did well to hang in there for as long as we did,” he remarked.
“If we would have had a few more runs to play with, we could have put a bit more pressure on the opposition but I thought it was a really good effort with the ball,” he said.