WI vs ENG 2024/25, WI vs ENG 5th T20I Match Report, 17 Nov 2024

On By Littum

Match abandoned West Indies 44 for 0 (Lewis 29*, Hope 14*) vs England

England leave the West Indies with a 3-1 victory in the T20I series after the final match of their Caribbean tour was washed out.

The game was abandoned after just five overs in the fifth and final T20I with Evin Lewis and Shai Hope guiding the hosts to 44 for no loss before a heavy storm set in at the Darren Sammy Stadium in St Lucia.
It wasn’t quite the start West Indies’ opening pair had staged less than 24 hours earlier, racing to 56 for nothing in the first five overs and 136 for 0 in nine, en route to chasing a record 219 in Saturday’s dead rubber . But it wasn’t far off as Lewis hit two sixes and three fours on his way to 29, not out before the rain came.

Lewis had just pulled a John Turner delivery for a thunderous six over deep midwicket and sent the next ball in the air wide of mid-on for four before being knocked on the helmet by a steep bouncer attempting another pull on the last ball of the over – and ultimately the match.

The rain came just as he was about to undergo a concussion check on the field, but he walked off smiling with the rest of the players.

With Hope unbeaten on 14 off 10 balls, it was an abrupt end to what had been shaping up to be another entertaining encounter to end the series after the same pitch had hit 32 sixes on Saturday.

On that occasion, the West Indies had won the toss for the only time in this series, but they started strongly in the face of Jos Buttler’s decision to bowl first on Sunday.

Turner, playing only his second T20I after making his debut in the fourth match of this series, conceded 22 runs from his two overs, while Jofra Archer, who replaced Saqib Mahmood in this match, went for 16 from 2. Jamie Overton who did it. ‘t bowl despite taking the field on Saturday, conceded five runs from his solitary over on Sunday.

Player of the Series Mahmood was comfortably the leading wicket-taker for the series with nine at an average of 10.55 and an economy rate of 6.33 with a best of 4 for 43 in the 1st T20I, with eight of his wickets coming in the powerplay . Next best was West Indies left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein with five.

“The one thing I noticed being here earlier is the crosswind on most grounds,” Mahmood told the post-match presentation. “I felt if I was going to take the new ball I’d have to work on my off-swinger a bit, just because Reece Topley and Jofra (Archer) wanted the new ball from the other end to swing the ball back. i. It’s something I have worked to perform and show that in a game was nice.

Phil Salt was the leading run-scorer with 162 including 103 not out in the first match and 55 in the fourth. Jacob Bethell, his 21-year-old teammate, also impressed with 127 runs for one out, and with a superior strike rate of 173.97. The English duo were split by West Indies captain Rovman Powell on 153 runs.