BASSETERRE, St Kitts, Nov 3, CMC – England Lions emerged victorious for the second straight match to claim their T20 series against West Indies ‘A’ with a match to spare.
The home side put up a better fight this time around but still went down by 17 runs at Conaree Sports Club to give the Lions an unassailable 2-0 advantage in their three-match series.
After sending England into bat, the Windies would have been disappointed England got up to 151 in 18.5 overs after reducing them to 120 for eight at one stage.
Despite knocks of 49 from Shadrack Descarte and 43 from captain Alick Athanaze, West Indies could only muster 134 for seven in their 20 overs.
For the second time in the series, pacer Jakeem Pollard gave the Windies a dream start by dismissing Ben McKinney for a duck in the first over.
After being hit for three fours in his second over, Pollard rebounded by having England’s skipper Thomas Rew caught for 11 to leave the score 23 for two at the end of three overs.
Rehan Ahmed and James Rew put the home side on the backfoot during a 49-run partnership for the third wicket that saw them progress to 72 for three in the eight over.
But once Descarte claimed Ahmed’s wicket for 31 off 21 balls, England suffered a collapse that saw them lose six wickets for 48 runs.
Legspinner Zishan Motara and wrist spinner Vitel Lawes were the main reasons behind the collapse, accounting for four wickets between them.
However, from 120 for eight in the 16th over, England was boosted by an unbeaten 22 from Liam Patterson-White and Eddie Jack, who blasted 21 off 13 balls batting at number nine.
Pollard ended with 4-20, while Lawes took 2-25 and Motara 2-27.
West Indies openers Kamil Pooran and Zachary Carter were stifled early on by England’s opening bowling pair of Naavya Sharma and Eddie Jack.
They managed to get up to 26 in the fourth over before pacer Scott Currie had Pooran caught at long on for 18 off 15 balls.
Jewel Andrew drove Eddie Jack to the boundary but two balls later he was caught at backward point for four as West Indies slipped to 31 for two after five overs.
Carter’s nightmare stay at the crease came to an end when he was dismissed by legspinner Calvin Harrison for a pedestrian six off 19 balls, and he also had Karima Gore caught and bowled to reduce the Windies to 59 for four in the 12th over.
Athanaze and Descarte tried their best to repair the damage during a 57-run partnership for the fifth wicket, but the required run rate continued to spiral out of control.
When Currie bowled Athanaze for 43 off 30 balls to leave the score 116 for five in the 18th over, the West Indies still required 36 runs from 13 balls.
Currie then essentially finalised the result by bowling Quentin Sampson with the next delivery to finish with 3-17 from his four overs, while Harrison took 2-27.
Descarte was run out off the last ball of the match for 49 off 33 balls, inclusive of three sixes and two fours.
The third and final T20 is on Wednesday at the same venue.
CMC rb/26