England spent much of this game digging themselves into not so much a hole as a full-blown trench, a toxic combination of regular errors and occasional misfortune leaving them in a truly desperate situation, apparently destined for convincing and deserved defeat. Enter Joe Root, and an innings for the ages.
Root produced a display of ethereal stroke-making on his way to a stunning, unbeaten 166, a batting performance of such beauty that the ugliness of much that came before will be forgotten. It was his highest score in one-day internationals, propelling him past Eoin Morgan to become England’s leading run-scorer in this format, and the first Englishman to score more than 7,000. It ended with a straight drive that brought his 23rd boundary, victory by three wickets, and a series secured with a game to spare. Typically, the match-winner sought afterwards to deflect credit rather than to bask in it.
“The way we managed to wrestle it back to [a target of] 309, I thought it was exceptional work from the bowlers,” he said. “There have been a lot of England teams I’ve played in before where we’ve ended up with 350 and then it’s a completely different chase.”
There was praise also for Harry Brook’s captaincy: “He led the team really well, that’s a really good sign for us moving forward. He might not always be the most intelligent away from cricket, but he understands the game exceptionally well,” and for Will Jacks, who scored 49 in an unfamiliar role at No 7, mostly in singles as he sought to give Root the strike: “To show that maturity, the skill, the calmness, and the clarity was really impressive.”
After Keacy Carty’s century, Shai Hope’s 66-ball 78 and a brilliant start to their efforts in the field West Indies will be asking themselves where, across a blustery day at Sophia Gardens, they were blown off course.
Their minds will snag on the final delivery of the sixth over of England’s innings, when Matthew Forde wheeled away in celebration, with arms outstretched and nary a backward glance, after thudding the ball into Root’s back pad. He had reached the slip cordon by the time he turned back to see an immobile umpire, and the inevitable review showed the ball would have clipped the bails but not with sufficient force for the on-field decision to be reversed. Root had scored seven.
The next delivery, the first of a fresh over, kissed Brook’s bat and was put down by Hope behind the stumps. “We know what the game could have been if things had gone our way,” Carty said. If they had, England would at that point have been 41 for four.
Even in victory England will know that, after a whipcrack-smart performance in the opener on Thursday, this was a very different story. Their fielding display was peppered with misfields, fluffed run-outs and dropped catches, and for a while they carried that form into their batting. Their target might have looked eminently achievable as Ben Duckett and Jamie Smith strode out but it had taken on a quite different appearance by the time both openers strode in again, neither of them having scored.
Duckett’s dismissal, flaying a wide delivery from Forde to Jayden Seales at wide third man, completed what was for him a particularly miserable outing, given that he was also responsible for two of those drops and the worst of the missed run-outs.
Root and Brook added 85 for the third wicket before the England captain, having motored to 47 off 36, misjudged a hook off Joseph and set up another Seales catch.
When Jos Buttler also fell without scoring – there were almost as many ducks in the cricket ground at this stage as in the River Taff that runs behind it, and thanks to Hope’s earlier efforts almost as many cricket balls in the Taff as in the ground – England found themselves up a very dirty creek.
Fortunately Root had his paddle, as well as his cover drive, his trademark cut, and the less-familiar gleeful straight biff for six.
West Indies will regret their failure to bat out their 50 overs, despite a strong start and several gifts from briefly obliging hosts. From 258 for four they added just 50 more runs as the lower order crumbled; England meanwhile were 93 for four before they turned things around.
“For us to have another win in a slightly new environment will fill the guys in the group with confidence,” Root said. “Hopefully this can be a team that is consistent and sticks together for a long period of time, and we can start building something together.”
