It required an unbroken 102-run seventh-wicket partnership from Joe Root and Chris Woakes to rescue England from a dramatic middle-order collapse in Antigua and clinch their one-day series against West Indies with a match to spare.
Eoin Morgan’s side had come to the Caribbean looking for a stiff workout before June’s Champions Trophy and, after Friday’s relative cruise, this time they got one, having bowled out West Indies for 225 only to find themselves 124 for six at the halfway point in the chase.
Root, 90 not out from 127 balls, and Woakes, unbeaten on 68 from 83, were ice-cool under sunny skies, however, knocking off the target on the tired pitch at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium with 10 balls remaining for a four-wicket win that takes them into Thursday’s final match in Barbados with a 2-0 lead.
“If we are going to compete in major tournaments we will need to find a way of winning, so it’s good to see in tough situations we can come out with a win,” said Root, who admitted to happy memories of the ground as the scene of his maiden one-day hundred in 2014.
“To see us have two games that aren’t 350 plays 350 means we’ve had to think and be smart and react to conditions. It’s pleasing to see we have that in our game.”
Root credited the lightning start made by England’s opener Jason Roy, who compiled a half-century in 48 balls in a brutal innings of straight hitting that transcended the surface, for easing the pressure of the situation and taking them to 87 for one in the 15th over after the loss of Sam Billings for a golden duck.
Roy’s dismissal for 52, caught in the deep attempting to smite a second six, kickstarted the loss of five wickets for 37 in 10 overs – the first of three for the off-spinner Ashley Nurse, who then trapped Morgan lbw for seven and bowled Moeen Ali neck and crop for three.
With the leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo teasing edges behind from both Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler in between, all of a sudden England were six down and still 102 runs short. Root admitted he had become “agitated” watching the chaotic scenes unfold at the other end and survived a sharp caught behind himself on 54 off Bishoo.
But in Woakes, a handy insurance policy down the order, he found an ally and, with the spinners eventually bowled out – and the fast bowler Shannon Gabriel unable to return from the opening burst that removed Billings due to a side strain – the pair patiently set about a rebuilding job as West Indies’ captain, Jason Holder, ran out of options and ended up turning to part-timers.
Root had no need to shepherd Woakes and this faith was repaid such that the Yorkshireman missed out on a ninth one-day hundred for himself as the No8 moved to a composed half-century from 65 balls. Had Rovman Powell, on as a sub for Gabriel, managed to cling on to a chance off the supposedly junior partner at wide long-on on 42, the tension the pair eased would have truly returned.
But West Indies, having experienced only four wins from 18 since the last World Cup, were left to rue the miss and, as the shadows lengthened, their heads began to drop. With 12 still needed a flailing Holder put Woakes down once more.
Woakes’s second six of the innings, off the beleaguered captain, drew the scores level and brought up the century partnership and Root then sealed the victory with a pinched single from a misfield with 10 balls to spare – a fitting end to his scampering innings, which featured only three boundaries.
Root, who insisted his role in the one-day side has not changed since becoming England’s Test captain last month, added: “It’s important we don’t stop at two-nil and we play in the same manner in Barbados. It might be a better pitch but either way we’ve got to be smart and make sure we get the job done.”
Morgan had earlier been bullish at losing the toss, insisting he wanted to field first, and saw his players deliver on the confidence by dismantling West Indies in 47.5 overs with a clinical fielding display.
The only blemish was a drop by Ben Stokes – a collector’s item in itself – that led to the all-rounder leaving the field for treatment on a finger injury. But while it no doubt induced palpitations in Pune, the Indian Premier League’s new £1.7m man returned unscathed.
By this stage Stokes, unused in Friday’s 45-run win, had already followed up two wickets from Steven Finn by removing No4 Shai Hope caught behind. Finn’s initial removal of both Evin Lewis and Kieran Powell took him to 100 one-day wickets in 67 matches, the third fastest Englishman to hit three figures after Darren Gough and Stuart Broad (both 62); that these were also his first in one-day cricket for 18 months rather summed up the 27-year-old’s enigmatic career to date.
From 46 for three in the 14th over Kraigg Brathwaite, 42, and Jason Mohammed, 50, gave the innings some ballast with a stand of 72. But both men were guilty of failing to kick on, with Brathwaite stumped off Moeen the over after Stokes’s drop and Mohammed chipping Plunkett to Adil Rashid at mid-on.
With Plunkett fooling Jonathan Carter with a slower ball on 29, Morgan then immediately replaced him with Rashid to prey on the desperation of West Indies at 176 for six in the 40th over. The switch worked, with the leg-spinner knocking over the giant pair of Holder and Carlos Brathwaite – the latter through a neat relay catch between Roy and Billings on the midwicket boundary rope – as they looked to launch sixes.
The resistance was then fully snuffed out by the 48th over when the returning Plunkett bowled Nurse and Buttler smartly ran out the last man Gabriel. The No11’s day briefly flickered with the removal of Billings caught at slip but ended with him looking on from the pavilion, injured, as his team-mates gave the tourists an almighty scare but failed to apply the killer blow..
