Source: Sunday Express
West Indies skipper Shai Hope struck his 17th ODI ton, but it wasn’t enough, as England, led by an unbeaten 124 from their captain Liam Livingstone, completed the second-highest run chase in the Caribbean to secure a comfortable five-wicket victory in the second One-Day International to level the three-match series 1-1 with one game to go.
The hosts won the first ODI at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua by eight wickets last Thursday and returned to the venue yesterday with Hope smashing 117 off 127 balls to lead his team to 328 for six after they were sent into bat.
But Livingstone’s maiden ODI century, which came in a 140-run fifth-wicket stand with Sam Curran (52), proved to be the deciding factor in the contest, as the visitors replied with 329 for five off 47.3 overs.
While Hope felt the total was enough, he said his bowlers were not disciplined enough.
“I thought it was a decent score, and I thought it was enough, but it wasn’t in this case,” Hope said after the game.
“We need to be more disciplined (with the ball). In the first game, we showed that when we hit those straps, things happen. We were a little bit too off. We bowled a lot of wide deliveries, and in the back end, I just didn’t think we executed our plans well,” he continued.
“We gave them a lot of easy options to score. We didn’t hit out straps today, and that is what happened,” Hope added.
Asked about scoring his 17th ODI century, Hope said: “Honest answer, irrelevant. If it doesn’t contribute to wins, it doesn’t matter.”
Yesterday, Livingstone made sure his maiden ton wasn’t in vain.
The right-hander walked out to bat with his team on 107 for three and put on a 53-run stand for the fourth wicket with Jacob Bethell (55) to keep the chase alive.
The England captain then teamed up with Curran to take the score to 229 for four after 40 overs before he teed off in the back end to deliver the win.
Livingstone struck nine sixes and five fours in his 83-ball knock, while Curran faced 52 balls and hit one six and three fours before he was dismissed.
Earlier in the England innings, Phil Salt struck a run-a-ball 59 to set the platform for the successful pursuit.
When West Indies batted, Salt dropped Hope on 60, and the Windies skipper made the chance count, putting on 143 runs with Keacy Carty to rescue the innings after the early loss of Brandon King (seven) and Evin Lewis (four) in the first four overs.
John Turner accounted for both openers, but the Windies rallied to take the score to 155 in the 31st before losing Carty, bowled by Adil Rashid for 71. He faced 77 deliveries and hit one six and five fours.
The innings got a boost with a quickfire 54 off 36 balls from Sherfane Rutherford, who smashed three sixes and four fours to take the Windies to 234 in the 40th over.
Rutherford’s innings also took the pressure off Hope as the Windies skipper approached his century, which he eventually brought up with a single off Saqib Mahmood off 118 balls.
Rutherford was eventually caught at deep extra cover off Livingstone, while Hope also departed towards the end, caught by Livingstone off Jofra Archer, but the hosts had already crossed the 300-run mark at that stage.
Matthew Forde ended the home team’s innings with a bang, smashing three sixes off Mahmood to finish unbeaten on 23 off 11 deliveries, but it still wasn’t enough to stop Livingstone and company.
The series decider will be played on Wednesday at Kensington Oval in Barbados from 2 p.m.