England’s top order were sent in to bat first, but Jason Roy and Moeen Ali helped the side recover from a slow start as they took three wickets each. England will face West Indies again on Friday for what could be a crucial final T20 match of the series.
With a wicket and a run-out, Reece Topley made his comeback to the England T20 team.
| Barbados hosts the second Twenty20 international. |
| Roy (31), Moeen (31), England 171-8 (20 overs) (24) |
| Hosein 44* (16), Moeen 3-24, West Indies 170-8 (20 overs) |
| England triumphed by one run, bringing the series to a 1-1 tie. |
| Scorecard |
England controlled the second T20 versus West Indies for the entirety of the game, but only triumphed by one run thanks to some incredible late hitting.
West Indies need a seemingly hopeless 30 from the last over, but Akeal Hosein dismissed Saqib Mahmood for 28, including three sixes off the final three balls.
On a similar tricky wicket, England had previously recovered from being bowled out for 103 in the first T20 to produce 171-8.
They were spurred by Jason Roy’s 24 off Fabian Allen’s 11th over, as 107 runs were scored in the innings’ second half.
Roy had 45 points and 61 points with Moeen Ali, who had 31, while Chris Jordan had a cameo of 27 points on the island of his birth.
In his first T20 international in almost six years, left-arm seamer Reece Topley trapped Brandon King lbw and athletically ran out Shai Hope to leave West Indies reeling at 6-2.
In the middle overs, spinners Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid mesmerized the hosts with their extreme turn, sharing five wickets.
Romario Shepherd’s 44 not out included five sixes, while Hosein’s undefeated 44 came off just 16 balls, making England’s winning margin much closer than it should have been.
The series is tied at 1-1 after five games. The third game will take place on Wednesday.
Roy sparks England’s progress.
Given the scare they had at the conclusion of the match, England was thankful to a far better batting performance from Saturday’s failure.
Whereas the visitors struggled to acclimatize to the circumstances in the first game of the series, they were more ready to wait before unleashing their usual batting aggressiveness on Sunday.
This was exemplified by Roy. As opener Tom Banton swept and reverse-swept 25 off 18 balls, he lacked fluidity, hammering a return catch to left-arm spinner Allen, who then disrupted James Vince’s off stump.
Roy had 17 from 23 balls at half-time, but erupted into life in the second half with three fours and two sixes in the first over. A slog sweep, one of the maximums, went out of the ground.
Roy had collected 28 runs off his previous seven deliveries when he was caught at long-on by Shepherd’s bowling in the following over.
As West Indies failed to replicate the fielding standards of the previous evening, Moeen was missed twice, the second due to a terrible drop by Odean Smith. There was an opportunity for the hosts when Moeen Ali and Sam Billings were removed in successive overs.
Jordan and skipper Eoin Morgan added 31 runs per over to put an end to it. It turned out to be precisely the right amount.
After Topley shines, the Windies surge.
Topley last played short-form cricket for England during their run to the 2016 World Cup final, before suffering a career-threatening back injury that kept him out of international cricket for four years.
He was England’s lone change from Saturday, replacing Tymal Mills, and it took him just two legal deliveries to make an impression, pinning King with a hooping inswinger.
Hope’s last moments were even more magnificent. Topley followed down the rebound, dived, and flicked the ball on to the non-stumps striker’s after parrying a stop in his follow-through.
If Liam Dawson had held on to a skier from Nicholas Pooran at mid-wicket, he would have had another wicket.
Despite this, Moeen and Rashid grabbed command, bowling together for six overs and taking five wickets for 32 runs.
On review, master leg-spinner Rashid had both Kieron Pollard and Darren Bravo lbw, while off-spinner Moeen had Pooran and Odean Smith hole out either side of snatching a superb caught and bowled off Jason Holder – 3-24 was his career-best score.
Shepherd gambled his arm in an almost impossible situation, needing 61 runs from the last three overs with just two wickets in hand.
In the 18th over, he hammered Jordan for three sixes, but when Topley was tight in the 19th, Mahmood’s last set was scarcely in doubt.
Nonetheless, Hosein’s attack of two fours and three sixes was amazing, and England were really ragged towards the end, despite the one-run advantage not telling the tale of their strength.
It might have been a lot worse for the visitors if Mahmood hadn’t gotten away with a marginal wide judgement from the first legal delivery of the over, much to the chagrin of Hosein, who finished up with the highest T20 international score by a number ten.
‘I felt we were fantastic.’
Eoin Morgan, England captain: “I was ecstatic, because those are the games you want to play in, even if it’s the last quarter with a pretty inexperienced international team. For the most part, I felt we were fantastic.”
Kieron Pollard, captain of the West Indies: “In the locker room, I can see the boys’ self-assurance. We’ll have days like these, but what I’m most proud of is the lads’ continued fight.”
Moeen Ali, Player of the Match: “We thought we’d gotten a great score, but they outplayed us. We had a better speed today, and each hitter got five or six balls. With the bat, Chris Jordan played a fantastic last over.”
