England shrugged off bad traffic, worse weather, an impromptu bike ride to the ground, a delayed start and reduced overs to smash their way to a huge seven-wicket win over a bedraggled West Indies at The Oval.
Harry Brook’s captaincy will face many challenges over the years but the traffic in north London will be one he probably won’t have to face again.
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With both teams stranded on the wrong side of the Thames, England took matters into their own hands by riding bikes to the ground, while the Windies turned up so late the game had to be delayed.
Despite this, and after a fright in Cardiff, at no stage did England look like losing especially after winning another handy toss and the West Indies were three down within seven overs.
Brandon King (16) miscued a pull to Will Jacks at midwicket, Evin Lewis (8) was caught brilliantly by a diving Ben Duckett at cover and when Shai Hope (0) holed out first ball it meant early success for Brydon Carse, Matthew Potts and Saqib Mahmood.
Sherfane Rutherford would have been playing in the IPL Final if his team hadn’t been beaten on Friday and he looked the part as he and the in-form Kacey Carty (29) put on 62 for the fourth wicket.
But after a rain shower, which robbed the game of ten overs per side, led to the West Indies losing another three quick ones.
And when Rutherford miscued a pull to depart for 70 the West Indies were suddenly 154/7 with over 15 overs still to play. It looked unlikely they’d bat out their overs. Gudakesh Motie (63) had other ideas.
Despite walking in on a hat trick he deposited his first ball into the stands for six and alongside Alzarri Joseph (41) the two put on the largest and most enterprising partnership of the innings.
Motie fell to the last delivery of the innings but not before he had propelled his side to 251/9.
England’s innings started just as the final of the IPL drew to a close and it seemed like Jamie Smith (64) had got his formats mixed up. He reached 40 inside five overs, the first time an Englishman had managed that, and there were audible groans in the ground when his 28 ball stay came to an end.
His wicket just brought to the crease the man who’d broken West Indies hearts at the weekend. And Joe Root (44) was happy to play second fiddle to Ben Duckett (58) whose Cardiff experience couldn’t have been more different, dropping two catches, missing a runout and departing for a duck.
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Duckett picked up where Smith left off, smashing 5 fours and 3 sixes before he was out. Root was slightly more sedate before Buttler came in and knocked off the remaining runs in under 30 overs.
It was fitting that when the end came it did so with Buttler hitting another giant six into the stands.
After all that the West Indies players may have wished they just stayed on the bus.
Brook admitted he is having a ‘hell of a lot of fun’ as the England captain after his first series in full-time charge of the white-ball sides ended in a 3-0 clean sweep of the West Indies.
“It’s a hell of a lot of fun when you’re enjoying it with a lot of mates,” said Brook, who will now turn his attention to the three-match T20 series that starts on Friday in Chester-le-Street.
“I think we’ve got such a good side. The depth in batting is amazing and then we’ve got a lot of skilful bowlers as well. I’m really looking forward to the future and seeing how it goes.”
England and West Indies will now play three T20 matches, with the first in Durham on Friday.
Overseas cricket fans can listen to live commentary of every England Test this summer by tuning into the talkSPORT Cricket YouTube Channel. The Following On Podcast hosted by Jon Norman and Steve Harmison will also be available shortly after the close of play.
