Amid the haze of a nearby bushfire England ended their tour of the Caribbean in a blaze of glory after routing West Indies for the second time in three days to secure a 3-0 series victory against the T20 world champions.
The hosts had slumped to 45 all out – the second lowest total in the history of international T20s – last Friday as they slipped to a 137-run defeat that made this third and final match of the series a dead rubber.
This contest was just as one-sided as West Indies were bowled out for 71 and Eoin Morgan’s team chased down their target with 57 balls and eight wickets remaining – the quickest successful run chase England have pulled off in T20 cricket.
Yet it was the bowling that stood out here. David Willey and Mark Wood both took career-best figures in this format, with the former’s four for seven and the latter’s three for nine exposing some atrocious play from a batting lineup missing Chris Gayle, who was rested.
In all the hosts batted for 13 overs. Had they managed to last the full 20, there might not have been a result given that England’s players celebrated during the post-match presentations amid a deluge of biblical proportions that at least quelled the bushfire.
This, though, was a perfect way for England to end a two-month tour in which they lost the Tests and drew the one-day series 2-2.
With the World Cup approaching Morgan indicated that it will not only be Jofra Archer who is given a chance in the one-off ODI and five-match series against Pakistan in May that will act as England’s final preparation for the tournament.
Archer, the Barbados-born all-rounder who qualifies for England on Sunday, will possibly be joined in the squads for those matches by Chris Jordan, whose six wickets in these T20s earned him the man of the series accolade, and Willey, who did not play in the recent ODIs.
“Moving forward there is an opportunity to look at other guys outside our mainstay players,” Morgan said. “I probably see our bowling lineup changing more than our batting. It is important. We haven’t had any serious injuries for six months, so the law of averages suggests we’ll have two during the World Cup.”
Willey had got England off to the perfect start when he had Shai Hope caught at short cover off the first ball of the match. Shimron Hetmyer followed in his next over, finding Jordan at mid-off.
John Campbell, in for the rested Gayle, and Darren Bravo fell in the space of three deliveries in Willey’s next over. Two days after Chris Jordan had taken four for six, Willey now had the second-best figures for an England T20 bowler.
West Indies collapsed so quickly Willey never got the chance to come back to bowl his final over and become the first England player to claim a five-wicket T20 haul.
Wood, in for the injured Liam Plunkett, was the only change to the England team that had won the first two matches. He had been brilliant during the recent ODIs here, building on a performance in the final Test against West Indies in St Lucia that had seen the Durham fast bowler take his first-ever five-wicket haul for England.
Here five of Wood’s deliveries in his second over were clocked above 90mph. It was his slower ball in that over, though, that claimed the scalp of Nicholas Pooran, who fell to a brilliant running catch by Jordan at deep midwicket.
After Holder had smashed Joe Denly to Jordan at long-on in the previous over, West Indies were six down after 10 overs. Only three more would be delivered as Adil Rashid bowled Fabian Allen and Obed McCoy with googlies in between Wood’s wickets of Carlos Brathwaite and Sheldon Cottrell.
The chase was a formality, even if Alex Hales, holing out to Holder, and Jonny Bairstow, who top-scored with 37 before he was bowled by Devendra Bishoo, fell along the way.
West Indies were just glad it was all over when Morgan hit the winning runs off Bishoo.