England made a horrific start to their limited-overs tour of the Caribbean, crashing out with an eight-wicket defeat to the West Indies.
After being fielded in a rain-interrupted opening match of three, they mustered just 209 in a poor performance with the bat and saw the West Indies cruise to a reduced target of 157.
Significantly, the Windies’ pursuit was delayed by a heavy rainstorm in the meantime that covered a soporific surface. It proved to be to the liking of Evin Lewis, whose big knock threatened to inflict a sixth 10-wicket loss on England in one-day history.
However, Lewis had already lost opening partner Brandon King shortly after resuming at 9.10pm after the second of two long interruptions, when he himself fell trying to score a ninth six that would have taken him to back-to-back centuries.
Lewis made a spectacular return last weekend after a three-year exile from ODIs, hitting an unbeaten 102 from 61 balls to seal a consolation win over Sri Lanka at the end of the tour.
England made a horrific start to their Caribbean tour, losing to the West Indies by eight wickets
West Indian opener Evin Lewis hit 94 off 69 balls as the hosts chased a revised total of 157
Jayden Seales took two for 22 as West Indies bowled out England for just 209
This time his runs came at a more leisurely pace, although the 32-year-old took his form with him across the continents, surviving good balls from Jofra Archer and England new boy John Turner in a powerplay test and battering everything a bit . offline for six.
Three times he cleared the ropes in an initial 10-over block that cost 49 wicketless runs, and two further knocks followed in a 46-ball half-century.
West Indies were just 13 runs short of inflicting England’s 15th defeat abroad in their last 22 outings by the time he was too far clear of Adil Rashid’s bowling.
However, England will spend Friday Antigua’s Independence Day brooding over their shortcomings in the white ball. Initially failing to get into the right pace, they then surrendered a strong position on 165 for four in the 35th, when Liam Livingstone’s counter-attacking 48 came to a soft end.
It was not isolated. England marked Livingstone’s international captaincy debut – in the absence of the injured Jos Buttler, he became the sixth-highest in all formats this calendar year – with an innings full of poor decision-making and irritatingly repetitive dismissals.
Sam Curran – who made 37 – was one of only three England batsmen to pass 20
New England boy John Turner failed to take a wicket from his five overs with the ball
Phil Salt fell for the 18th time in 23 innings inside the first 10 overs of a one-day international when an attempt to greet Jayden Seales’ first delivery after switching ends with a boundary resulted in a skier and his opening partner Will Jacks also made a mistake. air blow.
The policy of going over the top was made precarious by the lack of pace on the pitch, but the English batters remained unperturbed by the tactic by closing the gaps for ones and twos, and rotating the strike seemed the wisest choice.
How this England team, bereft of the Test players seen in Pakistan just three days ago, could have done with an older head like Joe Root in its ranks.
Jacob Bethell showed some of the stylish strokeplay that has caught the attention of the Test selectors but fell for 27, a figure matched by the combined scores of the tourists’ four debutants.
Adil Rashid scored more than seven runs on a cleansing evening for England
It was Livingstone’s international captaincy debut – in the absence of the injured Jos Buttler
Bethell’s departure, so soon after that of Jordan Cox, led to a rebuild from 93 to four, but England were left to rue Livingstone’s inability to make recalled West Indies star Shimron Hetmyer pay for setting up a chance at Midwicket when he was at 44.
It came during a flurry of boundaries – including the first two sixes of the match, hit off off-spinner Roston Chase – but it cost the Windies only a handful of runs as Livingstone fell in the next over and defused a return catch to the slow left stung. -armer Gudakesh Motion of a delivery that held up.
The ending of a 72-run stand with Sam Curran was the first of six wickets in 11 overs as England criminally left 29 balls unused.
Sixty were left when Curran inexplicably picked long-on to give Motie a third success in six deliveries. He finished with the second four-wicket haul in ODIs, while seamer Seales returned career-best figures of two for 22.