England’s hopes of sweeping the West Indies 5-0 ended as the hosts sprinted and stuttered to a five-wicket win in the fourth T20 international in St Lucia.
Shai Hope (54 off 24) and Evin Lewis (68 off 30) hit 136 off 55 balls for the first wicket before Jacob Bethell’s 22-ball half-century propelled the hosts to six balls to spare. Helped reach 219 goals. England posted an impressive 218-5.
The West Indies opener held on to his century stand in Liam Livingstone’s 30-run eighth over, with Lewis smoking the spinner for 36 and a four and the bowler also conceding a six-wide.
England’s Jacob Bethell hit a milestone in St Lucia with a 22-ball 50, hitting three consecutive sixes.
England are back in the game after three wickets fell on as many balls in Rehan Ahmed’s 10th over. Hope’s run out was caught at cover boundary by Lewis and Nicolas Pooran (0) was bowled for a duck by the young leg-spinner (3). -43).
West Indies regrouped and hit a crucial 38 as skipper Rovman Powell faltered when he was pinned lbw for 23 runs by T20I debutant John Turner in the 17th over, with Sherfane Rutherford (29no off 17) unlucky to hole out. I couldn’t do it. The ball fell to the ground as it fell between four converging England defenders.
But the hosts secured their first win thanks to Rutherford conceding six runs off Dan Mousley, ensuring every game so far has been won with the side batsman at second.
The worry for England now will be Livingstone’s fitness after the 31-year-old left the field after dismissing Shimron Hetmyer (7) with a stunning catch at mid-on.
Bethell was dazzled by the British defeat.
Earlier, Bethell (62no from 32) wrapped up the second half of the series with the third of three successive sixes in the Roston Chase in the 17th over.
Phil Salt (55 off 35), Jos Buttler (38 off 23) and Will Jacks (25 off 12) starred early on as the tourists passed 100 inside nine overs, while Sam Curran scored 13 24 of the dogs died after contributing.
The series concludes at the same venue on Sunday (8pm UK) before England’s focus switches to Test cricket, with the three-match series starting in New Zealand in Christchurch on November 28.
Bethell had a first-class batting average in the mid-20s for Warwickshire and would become a member of the Test team after being selected as batting cover despite having less than a century to his name.
But he showed just how much talent he has in St Lucia on Saturday, hitting Chase’s previous two balls into the leg-side stand to take his maximum score of 50 for a long time.
Bethell’s fireworks (he managed a total of five sixes and four fours) came after Salt and Jacks had hit 54 off 31 balls and Salt and Buttler had added 48 off 26 balls.
England lost as their hopes of a sweep ended.
Powell immediately inserted England after winning the coin toss after seeing the tourists win the first three games of the series chase, but may have regretted that decision as his attack was bowled poorly from a broken batting deck.
Jacks said before kick-off that he would like to contribute to a game-winning performance after scoring 17, 38 and 32 points in the first three games, but once again failed to push through and was bounced by Alzarri Joseph (1-33) after a strike. One is four and two is six.
England’s Phil Salt hit 50 as he reached his hundred in the series opener in Barbados.
Buttler took England to three figures with a towering six-off off spinner Akeal Hosein (0-40), before Salt gloved Chase down the leg side to unexpectedly end the storming innings.
Buttler fell short of the half-century that seemed inevitable when he hit the boundary off four balls, but Bethell’s brilliance more than made up for it and Curran dragged Gudakesh Motie (2-40) into the deep, the only one Livingstone (4) missing. I brought it in.
England’s quick Saqib Mahmood (0-24 in 4 overs) bowled a maiden in the penultimate over of the chase but was unable to add to his eight powerplay wickets in the series.
England’s Saqib Mahmood did not take a wicket but conceded only 24 runs in four overs.
It came just before Hope whipped Turner (in place of the resting Jofra Archer). At 25 points and 3 overs, he started chasing in earnest by hitting or passing 4 balls over the rope in a row.
West Indies raced to 69-0 by the end of the powerplay, a stark contrast to their previous three matches in which they had lost a combined 11 wickets in the first six overs, including five in the third T20.
West Indies vs England Schedule
Always UK and Ireland
