England's Men Beaten Again By West Indies As Winter Of Discontent Continues

England’s sorry winter went from bad to worse as they suffered a shock 3-2 T20I series defeat in the West Indies last night.

Joe Root’s side were humbled and humiliated 4-0 in the Ashes Down Under. Lots of the criticism around that torrid tour in Australia revolved around the ECB prioritising white-ball cricket. So, it was hoped the No 1 ranked T20I side in the world would restore some much-needed pride in the Caribbean.

But the visitor’s second-string touring party came up short against Kieron Pollard’s hungry side. 

The stage was set in Bridgetown for the decider after an entertaining first four matches in Barbados. 

And hometown hero Jason Holder stole the show as he finished the series in fine style. Holder took four wickets in the final four balls to condemn the tourists to a disappointing 17-run defeat as they were bowled out for 162.

The towering all-rounder became only the fourth player in history to achieve the phenomenal feat in a T20I. It was made all the more special that it came at his home ground. A real moment to savour for the Test captain. 

England again came unstuck with their poor bowling at the death. You don’t have to get much wrong to be sent to the stands by this powerful West Indian outfit. 

But the tourists missed their lengths far too often on this trip. No matter how destructive their first-choice batting line-up is, and they are feared around the world, England will not be contenders for the T20 World Cup later this year if they cannot nail their yorkers at the end. 

They desperately need to get Jofra Archer fit and firing if they are to stand any chance of lifting the trophy in Australia. 

Thankfully the signs are good for the fast bowler, who was out training with the squad in the West Indies as he continues the arduous rehabilitation process on his reoccurring elbow injury. 

The West Indies’ innings was in danger of petering out at 105/4 after the 15th over. They were once again shackled by England’s spinners stand-in skipper Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone went for just 54 runs in their shared 10 overs. 

But Rovman Powell, who smashed an incredible hundred in the third game, struck four sixes in a 17-ball 35 as he and Pollard capitalised on England’s wayward death bowling. 

Pollard hit 41 off just 25 balls himself as the hosts hammered a staggering 74 runs off the final five overs to drag themselves to 179/4 off their 20 overs.

It begs the question as to why didn’t Ali and Livingstone bowl their fourth and final overs as the spin trio restricted the West Indian’s brutal batters in the middle order.

Classy James Vince was leading the charge in the run chase and they were going along nicely at 94/3 after 11 overs. 

England were quickly reduced to to 119/6 as left-arm spinner Akeal Hossein tore the life out of the innings with impressive figures of 4/30.

Wicket-keeper Sam Billings provided a late rally with some late fireworks in his 28-ball 41. But it proved too little too late for the visitors to pull off an unlikely victory.

Billings left himself too much to do with 20 runs required off the final over as man-of-the-moment Holder stepped up to blow away the tail to finish with 5/27. 

Stand-in captain Ali said: "We are working on our death bowling but I didn't think we were too bad today. We'll get better as time goes on. They were smarter than us today with bat and ball.”

Captain Pollard, whose side are ranked 10th in the world, beamed: "Every single person in the dressing room, well done to every single one of them. This is Jason Holder's ground, his town, but it was total team effort from us. The guys worked hard throughout the series."