BASSETERRE, St Kitts, Nov 8, CMC – James Rew’s superb century and Jack Haynes’ unbeaten half century helped England Lions snatch victory from the jaws of defeat against West Indies ‘A’ in the opening match of their One Day International series here on Saturday.
Rew blasted 101 off 79 balls, while Haynes finished on 74 not out off 70 balls, as England recovered from 58 for five to post 240 for six and defeat the home side by four wickets via the Duckworth/Lewis/Stern method in their rain-affected contest at Warner Park.
Earlier, after being sent in to bat, West Indies ‘A’ got up to 212 for eight after rain limited their innings to 40 overs.
Keacy Carty and Kirk McKenzie both scored half centuries to give West Indies a strong foundation on which to build, before a middle order collapse erased their hard work.
England pacer Naavya Sharma got his side off to the perfect start when he had skipper Alick Athanaze caught for a duck off the second ball of the match.
McKenzie and Carty reconciliated during a partnership of 123 runs, while scoring at over six runs an over.
Cruising on 123 for one in the 20th over, leg spinner Rehan Ahmed had McKenzie caught for 53 off 69 balls with six fours and one six, and two overs later he bowled Carty for 57 off 54 balls, inclusive of five fours and three sixes, to see the Windies slide to 125 for three.
Shaqkere Parris scored a fighting 38 off 53 balls, but no other West Indies batter made it past 20, as they lost their last four wickets for the addition of just six runs.
Sharma was the pick of England’s bowlers with 3-30, while Ahmed claimed 2-18.
Set a victory target of 240 in 36 overs by the DLS, England found themselves in serious trouble with pacers Jahkeem Pollard and Oshane Thomas making early inroads.
Pollard dismissed Thomas Rew for four and Thomas snared the wickets of Ben McKinney, Ahmed and James Cole to reduce England to 58 for five after nine overs and put West Indies in sight of their first win of the white-ball tour.
But James Rew and Haynes completely turned the match on its heels by adding 175 runs for the sixth wicket.
By the time Pollard returned to dismiss the former, the damage had already been done with England needing just seven more runs to complete an unlikely victory.
Haynes, along with Mason Crane then carried their side across the line with 13 balls remaining to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
Thomas took 3-59, while Pollard took 2-44.
The next match is slated for Monday at the same venue.
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