. For all the relentless chatter that cricket in the region is dying a slow death, it is England who come here to suffer.
On paper, it is a crushing defeat for England. A 209-run partnership that saw both Brandon King and Keacy Carty cruise to centuries and hand the West Indies a second eight-wicket win of the series hardly breeds reason for optimism. But there are mitigating factors.
The group remains extremely inexperienced and ahead of the series decider at Kensington Oval they lost a crucial toss. Conditions in Barbados were hardest to bat in during the opening 25 overs before becoming gun-barrel straight when the floodlights came on and the dew in Bridgetown settled. Despite a 13th ODI loss in the past 20 matches, it is not the time for pitchforks.
While England will be concerned by how little they threatened with the ball, with the bat they recovered from a disastrous start after all of Will Jacks, Jordan Cox, Jacob Bethell and Liam Livingstone fell in the powerplay to leave the tourists 24 for four. Jacks and Livingstone edged behind driving, Bethell was wonderfully caught at backward point and Cox got a horrible lifter from Alzarri Joseph to end a difficult debut tour. In three matches, Cox made scores of 17, four and one.
But crisis creates opportunity, and with England’s back up against the wall, Phil Salt produced the type of patient innings he had been yet to deliver in an England shirt. Salt, along with Sam Curran, began England’s rescue mission. Two days ago, Salt said his aim in the ODI team was to “drop the strike-rate and pump the average”. Today, he did exactly that.
Salt’s total of 74 off 108 balls was entirely out of keeping with the rest of his career as he accumulated slowly and guided his team to a competitive total. Just as Livingstone had shown in Antigua on Saturday, England’s …
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