England hoped to use this tour to get into a groove before next year’s T20 World Cup, and instead they find themselves in a trough. There have been encouraging signs, moments of individual excellence, but increasingly the one thing this team seems really good at is losing. On a beautiful afternoon in Grenada they ambled to their latest reverse, and having already lost the ODI series they find themselves two down in the T20s, with three to play.
This was a match of 40 overs in effect decided by one, when Sam Curran leaked 30 to boost West Indies’ score to a level that in the end the tourists could not reach. In a game that highlighted the yin and the yang of Curran it was also he who contributed most to England’s response, top-scoring with 50 after being thrust up the order to four. But despite, and because of, his efforts England never looked likely to better West Indies’ total of 176 and even after plundering 17 off the final over they fell 10 short.
West Indies scored 13 sixes to England’s eight, and having outgunned the tourists 14-6 in the series opener their ability to clear the rope is proving decisive. “We’ve got some really good six-hitters ourselves,” said Matthew Mott, the coach. “We’ve got the artillery there, they’ve just executed a bit better than us in the last two games.”
Again it was a game where spinners stood out, with Adil Rashid conceding just 11 runs and Gudakesh Motie bettering that by two, neither of them conceding a boundary. As Motie bowled pressure and frustration built, and when a batter finally decided to take him on, Liam Livingstone immediately lifted the ball to a fielder. For England it was that kind of game, and it is becoming that kind of series.
Having been put in to bat West Indies proceeded serenely to 37 off the first five overs but then lost a wicket in each of the next four as England took control, a period of ascendancy that emphatically ended when Rovman Powell met Curran. He started the 16th over having scored a pedestrian 22 off 22; he ended it back in the dressing room, and with a half-century.
He was a bit lucky to get four off the first courtesy of an edge, but he had no problem finding the middle of the bat as the next four legal deliveries were deposited into various parts of the crowd. Finally, off Curran’s second attempt at a final delivery, Powell lifted the ball too close to Harry Brook at long-on, and he took an excellent diving catch. “It definitely changed the game,” Powell said. “As a batter you sometimes look for that over and after being pegged down by the leg-spinners the pacer comes on and you think, maybe this is the opportunity to cash in.”
Brandon King, who ended with an unbeaten 52-ball 82, pumped three fours and a six off the next over, bowled by Rehan Ahmed, and with that West Indies disappeared out of sight.
England’s response started, as is now customary, with Jos Buttler being dismissed for a single-digit score. Phil Salt followed soon after the end of the powerplay, at which point they played their wildcard. Curran has struggled to carry the power and timing he regularly demonstrates in training into matches. Here we got a glimpse – a sweet six down the ground off Alzarri Joseph, another couple off Andre Russell – but the damage had been done.
“We have to respond to this,” Mott said. “We played good cricket again for 90% of the match. The message in the changing room is that we are not far away. We just have to stay the course.”
