Time to call it a night. It’s been a soggy end to a sparky series, an unfitting send-off for three coaches – the interim boss Marcus Trescothick, who, like Lee Carsley, will now hand over to a more lasting successor, plus the fielding coach Carl Hopkinson and the spin-bowling coach Richard Dawson. But they can all get on the plane tomorrow knowing that they have turned things round after a disappointing ODI series. England’s T20 team are back in business. Next up, in just ten days, the Test team begin a series in New Zealand.
Thanks for your company, correspondence and helpful corrections when I got my own Blue Sky handle wrong (eye-roll emoji). Hoping to see you over there, and back here before long.
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And here’s another softly-spoken captain – the winning one. “We’re delighted,” says Jos Buttler. “I thought we played some brilliant cricket early on, started all the games well. Saqib Mahmood set the tone in all those games and [we had] lots of different guys chipping in… In all the formats, there’s a real nice stock of fast bowlers.” Asked about captaining from the outfield, he says: “I really enjoyed it, running around.”
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Here’s Rovman Powell, the losing captain. For such a powerful man, he has a very soft voice, although he doesn’t pull his punches. “The bowling group,” he says, “need to sharpen up on a few areas… A lot of credit to Jos and his team – they’re really coming to the Caribbean and learning fast.”
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Eight of Saqib’s nine wickets came in the Powerplay. “Really happy about it,” he says. “As a group we spoke beforehand – to have that mindset looking to take wickets the whole time… One thing I noticed coming here before was the cross-winds.” Which meant he had to work on his away-swing (to the right-hander), as Jofra Archer and Reece Topley were coming in from the other end with their inswing. Favourite moment of the series? “Winning it.” That’s a team player’s answer, as he wasn’t on the field at the time.
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Time for the presentations. Indoors, for obvious reasons. Tye player of the series is … Saqib Mahmood. What a comeback.
Until tonight, it’s been an entertaining series and a satisfying one for England. They pulled off an upset with a line-up that had, as Micky Stewart once said in these parts, “a lot of inexperience”.
Jos Buttler returned as captain after a long lay-off and did very well, winning one match with the bat and showing more ingenuity with his field placings from his new vantage point at mid-on, slip, long-on or wherever his excellent fielding was needed. Jacob Bethell confirmed the suspicion that he’s a rising star. Sam Curran and Liam Livingstone showed their class. Jamie Overton and Rehan Ahmed chipped in with big wickets. Saqib Mahmood joined Jofra Archer in the best new-ball pairing since we last saw Chris Woakes in this format.
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A flurry of stats
England have the leading wicket-taker in the series, Saqib Mahmood (nine for 95, a triumphant return) and the leading run-scorer, Phil Salt (162). They also have the best economy rate (6.24 from Jamie Overton, sealed by his five-run over tonight) and the highest batting average (127 by Jacob Bethell, who seems to have the priceless ability to rattle along without giving his wicket away). But West Indies have the highest strike rate by a top-six batter (Shai Hope with 200 – he made 72 off only 36 balls), and the most sixes by an individual (Rovman Powell with 11, one more than Salt).
Match abandoned!
The whole thing has indeed been called off. So England win the series 3-1. And this becomes the first of the five games in which winning the toss, as England did, has not meant winning the game.
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There are now lakes on the outfield. Let’s call the whole thing off.
One day, rain delays will be like reviews and we’ll all be able to eavesdrop on the deliberations of the umpires. For now, we can only gasp in awe at the unsinkable optimism of Leslie Reifer and Gregory Brathwaite.
When TNT goes back to the ground, it looks worse than ever. Grey, bleak and above all wet. At the risk of being unduly gloomy, I’ll be surprised if another ball is bowled.
In other news, Great Britain have beaten Canada to reach the semis of the Billie Jean King Cup.
In the immortal words of Edith Sitwell (and Bryan Ferry), still falls the rain. As TNT gives us a glimpse of the ground, the floodlights are glowing out of a pewter sky. I wish I had better news.
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“Stadiums and stands,” says Tim Sanders. “Never mind Daren Sammy and his stadium. Sam Northeast came on loan to Yorkshire, and there was already a stand named after him.” Ha.
As the rain continues to fall on Gros Islet, the third umpire has announced the cut-off time. It will be 7.48pm over there, which is 11.48pm in the UK. A fair old time to wait for five overs.
Another skeet! Blue Sky is clearly taking off – not content with picking up a million new accounts on Friday, and another million on Saturday, it has now played its part in two posts on the OBO.
“Hi Tim,” says Sam Dolan. “What do you think of the recent trend where England’s footballers now sound like elite teams of lawyers (Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Morgan Gibbs-White), but England’s openers (Phil Salt, Will Jacks) sound like the kind of solid blokes who could get your nan’s Fiat Uno through one last MOT.”
I think that’s a great line.
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It’s still raining, sad to say. It’s possible that West Indies’ innings is already over. If so, according to our friends at Cricinfo, England’s target – assuming the palyers get back out again – will be 69. Off 30 balls… even Phil Salt might be daunted by that.
A fish-eye lens shows us the state of the Daren Sammy Stadium. Stadiums are like policemen – they’re getting younger. Sammy is still only 40 and he’s already been a stadium for eight years. More importantly, there’s a tinge of blue now in the sky above the ground. Time for some cheese.
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It’s a hard rain, too – white stripes of water on the screen. On TNT they go back to the studio for a bit of chat. “Another belting wicket,” says Jason Roy. “I think England will be pretty happy with that.”
My far less expert view is that I’m not quite so sure. Yes, there’s been less carnage than last night, when it was 56-0 at this stage – but T20s are often governed by wickets taken in the Powerplay and after five overs, for all their moral victories, England haven’t got one.
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Rain stops festival of mistimed pulls
5th over: West Indies 44-0 (Lewis 29, Hope 14) Well, I did say there were records to be broken. What I didn’t foresee was that West Indies would be gunning for the record for the most mistimed pulls played with impunity in a T20 international Powerplay. As Turner changes ends, Lewis fluffs yet another pull and gets a single as the ball drops harmlessly in the wilderness outside the ring. After that, West Indies start playing properly. Hope swings over midwicket for four, then Lewis, at last, nails that pull and gets six for it.
Suddenly remembering the record they’re after, he goes back to mistiming and picks up another four. Turner, who may be mildly incensed, bowls another short ball which raps Lewis on the helmet. Happily, he seems to be OK.
That’s 16 off the over … and now it’s raining.
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4th over: West Indies 28-0 (Lewis 18, Hope 9) Seeing all these lifters trouble the openers, Buttler takes Turner off and summons Jamie Overton, who is more of a bang-it-in merchant. Again Lewis is unconvincing, and again he gets off scot-free as a mistimed pull goes for four over mid-on.
Yet another pull, a better one, nearly goes for four but ends up being just a single as Sam Curran scampers around the boundary and flicks it to Jacob Bethell. A good start from JOverton.
3rd over: West Indies 23-0 (Lewis 13, Hope 9) Much better from Lewis, who muscles Archer’s first ball from a good length over the rope at long-on for the first six of the day. Still good from Archer, who draws yet another false shot with his bumper, from Hope this time. It’s a swirling top edge that sails away for four because fine leg is up in the circle. Archer responds with a rueful smile.
Eleven off the over, so that’s the first skyscraper in West Indies’ Manhattan. It won’t be the last.
2nd over: West Indies 12-0 (Lewis 6, Hope 5) At the other end it’s John Turner. Buttler and Marcus Trescothick have shown some faith in him and it will be intriguing to see if he can repay it. He’s got the pace and when he finds some movement too he beats Lewis outside off. But then he gets blasted for four, on the up, past mid-off, by Shai Hope, who was in fearsome form last night.
1st over: West Indies 6-0 (Lewis 5, Hope 0) Evin Lewis nearly perishes second ball! He opts to pull a lifter that’s too far outside off and thick-edges it over first slip, where not even Jamie Overton can reach it. He gets four for that, followed by a single for another false shot, also a pull – a leading edge that squirts into the covers. And then he gets away with a third edge as a failed swish sends the ball into the ground before it goes through to Phil Salt. Archer, as so often lately, is looking good without getting his just deserts.
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The players are out there, under grey skies. Jofra Archer has the new ball.
A skeet! “@timdelisle.bsky.social,” says Smylers. “Hello. Nice to find you on here! That involved ignoring both the first dot and the ‘lue’ from the handle you posted on the OBO — you might wanna tweak to make it easier for others?”
Oh God, sorry. Take Smylers’ word for it, not mine. And yes I will tweak it, thanks.
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An email! “Disappointing team selection for England,” scoffs Tom Stock. ”If ever there was a time for Salt and Pepper this was it…”
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Looking at those teams, you wonder how on earth England have won this series. As well as home advantage, West Indies have more experience and greater firepower. One answer is that England won the first three tosses, opting to chase every time.
Another is that their runs have been distributed very efficiently. Phil Salt won the first game with a rip-roaring hundred; Jos Buttler won the second by shaking off the rust with a beautifully judged 83. When those two big guns went silent in the the third game, Sam Curran and Liam Livingstone rose to the occasion and did just enough to secure the series. Jacob Bethell has been good too, and the quicks have bowled very well, but it’s the senior batters and allrounders who have bossed the chase.
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Teams in full
West Indies 1 Evin Lewis, 2 Shai Hope, 3 Nicholas Pooran (wkt), 4 Rovman Powell (capt), 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Roston Chase, 7 Sherfane Rutherford, 8 Romario Shepherd, 9 Akeal Hosein, 10 Gudakesh Motie, 11 Alzarri Joseph.
England 1 Phil Salt (wkt), 2 Will Jacks, 3 Jos Buttler (capt), 4 Jacob Bethell, 5 Sam Curran, 6 Liam Livingstone, 7 Jamie Overton, 8 Rehan Ahmed, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Jofra Archer, 11 John Turner.
One change for West Indies
After turning the tide last night, West Indies stick with ten of their XI. The only change is Romario Shepherd coming in for Obed McCoy, which shortens the tail.
Two changes for England
England show they mean business by bringing back their two senior bowlers, Adil Rashid and Jofra Archer. They replace Dan Mousley and Saqib Mahmood, so we won’t see Mahmood and Archer sharing the new ball. But we will see Rashid and Rehan Ahmed bowling leg-breaks and googlies – the sorcerer and his apprentice.
Toss: England win and bowl first
Jos Buttler calls right – and goes with the flow of this series. Every game has been won by the side batting second.
Preamble
Evening everyone and welcome to the fifth act of another sporting drama. Some might say it was a dead rubber, but they would be missing the point. In a sport that loves its records the way cricket does, rubbers never die. Any of the 22 players could post a career-best tonight, score a hundred, grab a four-for or do something that hasn’t been done before in nearly 20 years of T20 internationals.
And, as we saw last night, the competitive juices will still flow. England could go home glowing with satisfaction after a resounding 4-1 win, or lose again and leave West Indies on a roll. It’s not all to play for, but there’s still enough: pride, a place in the team, and of course entertainment – the chance to fire up new fans or put a smile on the faces of the older ones.
It’s the last game in charge for Marcus Trescothick, cricket’s answer to Lee Carsley, though he will stay on as an assistant coach when Brendon McCullum becomes the overall supremo. It’s also the final fling with the white-ball squad for two lower-profile England coaches, Carl Hopkinson (fielding) and Richard Dawson (spin bowling).
Both were there in Australia when England won the T20 World Cup two years ago, and Hopkinson had also been part of the group that lifted the 50-over World Cup on home soil in 2019 – when some smart fielding, by Jason Roy and Jos Buttler, played rather a vital role in the dénouement. Dawson and Hopkinson are already guaranteed to go out with a series win, but you suspect Buttler will be itching to give them one last victory to go with their leaving cards.
Play starts at 8pm GMT, and I’ll be back soon after 7.30 with news of the toss and the teams. If you’re on Blue Sky, as the Guardian is now, do send me a skeet! @tim.delisle.bsky.social
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