England won the second T20 against West Indies by a large margin, but only one run was enough to win the match.
West Indies required a seemingly insurmountable 30 to win the final over. However,
Akela Hosein was able to take Saqib Mahamood for 28 with three sixes from the last three balls.
England bounced back earlier from getting bowled out in the first T20 post 171-8 on a similar pitch.
Jason Roy took 24 runs off Fabian Allen’s 11th innings.
Roy was able to make 45 and add 61 with Moeen Ali, who contributed 31. Chris Jordan shined once more on the island, born with a cameo appearance of 27.
Reece Topley, the left-arm seamer, who was playing his first T20 international in nearly six years, caught Brandon King lbw and athletically ran out Shai hope to leave West Indies reeling at 6-2.
Moeen Rashid and Adil Rashid captivated the hosts with their excessive turn on offer. They shared five wickets.
Romario Shepherd hit five sixes in his 44-not-out, while Hosein’s unbeaten 44 was from
England won by 16 points.
The series of five matches is at 1-1. The third game will be played on Wednesday.
Roy sparks England’s improvement.
England was left feeling terrified after Saturday’s match. England is grateful for the improvement in their batting performance.
While the tourists could not adapt to the conditions during the series opener, they were more patient on Sunday before unleashing their signature batting aggression.
Roy exemplified this approach. As his opening partner Tom Banton could not fluently sweep and reverse-swap 25 balls, he had to catch a return catch for Allen, left-arm spinner Allen. This then disrupted James Vince’s off stump.
Roy had 17 of 23 balls at half-time but then exploded with three fours in the second half. One of the maximums was a slog sweep that went out of the ground.
Roy had run 28 runs from his seven previous deliveries before he fell.
Moeen was twice missed – the second being a poor drop by OdeanSmith – as West Indies did not match their fielding standards from the previous night. The hosts had an opening when Sam Billings and Moeen were dismissed in consecutive overs.
Jordan overthrew it and captain Eoin, who added 31 runs at 10 runs per over. It was just enough.
Windies surge after Topley shines.
Topley was last in the shortest format for England when they reached the 2016 World Cup final. A career-threatening back injury prevented him from playing for England for four years.
He was England’s only change since Tymal Mills died on Saturday. He took just two legal deliveries to make an impression, pinning King with his hooping inswinger and replacing Tymal.
Hope’s run-out was even more impressive. Topley reacted to a stop in his follow through and chased the rebound. He dived and flicked it onto the stumps of the non-striker.
He would have another wicket if Liam Dawson held on to a Nicholas Pooran skier at mid-wicket.
Moeen and Rashid still held the fort, taking control of six overs. This brought five wickets for 32 runs.
After review, Rashid, a talented leg-spinner, had Darren Bravo and Kieron Pollard both lbw. Off-spinner Moeen continued to be a fine all-around performer by having Pooran and Odean slip out each side of snatching a sharp caught and bowled at Jason Holder – 3-24 was his career-best figure.
In a desperate situation, 61 wickets were required from the last three overs. Only two wickets left. Shepherd stepped up to save the day.
He hit Jordan with three sixes in 18 over. Topley was also tight in the 19th. The result was still in doubt going into Mahmood’s final set.
Despite this, Hosein’s attack of three sixes and two fours by Hosein was remarkable. Although the margin of one run does not reflect England’s superiority over England, it is clear that they were very ragged at death.
The tourists might have suffered more if Mahmood had not made a marginally wide decision from the first legal delivery. This frustrated Hosein, who finished with the highest number 10 in T20 internationals.
“I thought we were brilliant.”
Eoin Morgan, England captain: “I was thrilled, and even with last quarter, with an inexperienced international team, those are games you want to be in. We were, for the most part, brilliant today. “
Kieron Pollard, West Indies captain: “I can see that the guys are confident in the changing rooms. There will be days like these, but I am more interested in the fight the men continue to show. “
Moeen Ali,(Player of the Match): “We thought we had gotten a great score, but they played well. Today was a better place, and each batter got five to six balls. Chris Jordan was a tremendous batsman. “
