2nd T20I: England beat West Indies in 1-run thriller, series tied at 1-1

West Indies’ lower-order efforts fell one-run short of what would have been an epic run chase as England managed to pull-off a win at the Kensington Oval, Bridgetown on Sunday. The five-match T20I series is now levelled at 1-1. 

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The Windies needed 30 runs off the final over with two wickets in hand. However, with the help of three sixes and two boundaries, they managed 28. 

After losing the toss, England were put to bat first. Riding on Jason Roy’s 45 off 31 balls, they posted 171/8 after 20 overs. 

In reply, West Indies were reduced to 78-7 after 13 overs and eventually 111/8. They needed 60 runs off the last three overs to match England’s total before letting rip to finish agonizingly short on 170-8.

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West Indies’ No. 10, Akeal Hosein, hit Saqib Mahmood for three straight sixes off the last three balls of the game, finishing on 44 not out off 16 balls with three fours and four sixes. Allrounder Romario Shepherd was also 44 not out in 28 deliveries, with one four and five sixes.

Shepherd and Hosein shared an unbroken 72-run stand from just 29 balls.

Moeen Ali was the outstanding bowler for England, returning 3-24 off four overs.

Adil Rashid (2-24) earlier snared Kieron Pollard and Darren Bravo as the hosts crumbled from 47-2 to 65-7 before giving England a huge scare at the end.

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Roy top-scored for England with more than half his runs coming from one over from Fabian Allen (2-50), while Ali added a sketchy 31 and Chris Jordan a cameo 27 on the ground where he spent a lot of his childhood.

Talking about the win, England skipper Eoin Morgan said that he was delighted. He added that with experience Mahmood, who went for 28 runs in the final over, will get better. 

” I thought we adapted better to the conditions today. The tracks here aren’t those where you can get a fluid tempo to the innings. It was a conscious idea (for the batters to spend some time in the middle). Every team in the world is trying to get better at it (death bowling). It’s the hardest job in world cricket. At the end, the ball did skid on. We need to find better ways to execute. Majority of our plans today was to bowl yorkers, we just got it wrong,” Morgan sai

The third T20 is on Wednesday.