Six matches in charge, six wins. Another thumping victory gave Harry Brook the perfect start to his captaincy as his side blasted their way to the second-highest T20 innings score by an England team, leading to a 37-run win and a 3-0 series whitewash.
Batting first, Ben Duckett led a brutal assault, scoring the fourth-fastest T20 international fifty by an England player in an extraordinary opening partnership of 120 with Jamie Smith. On a balmy, sunny evening in Southampton, the capacity crowd were treated to a brutal display of hitting by the home side, including 18 fours and 15 sixes, as England racked up 248 for three.
They came out firing as the opening pair made the most of the powerplay fielding restrictions. Duckett’s half-century came from only 20 balls as England blasted their way to 83 without loss in the first six overs. Smith’s maiden T20 half-century followed not long after — his coming from 23 balls as the Surrey batsman carried on his form from the ODI series.
Spin was introduced in the seventh over and Smith took his score to 60 from 26 balls with an extraordinary front-foot six over extra cover before holing out to Shimron Hetmyer at deep midwicket. It was a cleanly struck blow and on most grounds the shot would have gone for six but the Utilita Bowl is a large playing surface and Hetmyer was right on the rope. Smith, who is playing in this series only because Phil Salt withdrew last week for the birth of his first child, could well have played his way into this T20 side more permanently, having scored 102 runs in the three innings at a strike rate of 200.
Brook was at his imaginative best during a quickfire unbeaten 35
PA
There was to be no let up for the West Indies bowlers, though, as Jos Buttler continued the shower of boundaries. On the fourth ball he faced, the former captain pulled Alzarri Joseph through backward square leg with such force it landed 15 metres behind the top of stands — a blow of about 100 metres. He then followed up with a no-look scoop through third man to give England their highest T20 score after ten overs (135 for one).
With the run rate at over 12 an over, West Indies captain Shai Hope was scrambling for ideas to try to stem the avalanche of runs and so for the 12th over turned to the medium pace of Sherfane Rutherford to try to take some pace off the ball with some slower-ball cutters and back-of-thehand variations. It worked as the over went for only six runs and brought the wicket of Buttler who, with no pace to work with, skied one off the toe-end of the bat to cover to end a cameo of 22 off ten balls.
All that did was bring the outstandingly talented Jacob Bethell to the crease and some of the shots he played in his innings of 36 from 16 balls were extraordinary, particularly the final ball of the 18th over when Holder bowled a perfect yorker but Bethell got low to the ground and steered it through third man for four.
Bethell hit four sixes in his 16-ball 36
SHUTTERSTOCK EDITORIAL
The onslaught continued as Brook launched the third ball of the 19th over into the Shane Warne Stand and then, after a scampered single, Bethell carved over extra cover for another six that landed ten metres over the boundary rope. The 19th over was taken for 15, meaning Joseph had gone for 60 off his four overs and it was left to the former captain Jason Holder to bowl the final over. It began admirably with some smart wide-pitched slower balls but another brutal blow over long off by Brook and some excellent running between the wickets saw England equal the record for the highest T20 international score, sharing the record with Australia, who had made the same score, also at this ground, back in 2013.
With a required run rate of almost 12.5 an over, West Indies needed to fire and fire straight away but their innings stuttered almost immediately as Luke Wood, who had bowled an almost unplayable opening spell in the last match, had Johnson Charles caught at midwicket.
England’s highest T20 scores267-3 v West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago, 2023248-3 v West Indies, Southampton, 2025241-3 v New Zealand, Napier, 2019234-6 v South Africa, Bristol, 2022
There was another catch in the deep two overs later when Liam Dawson had Evin Lewis caught by Ben Duckett, leaving the visitors stuttering on 37 for two in the fifth over.
The powerful Hetmyer was not going to die wondering and kept his side in the fight for a while with a brutal, if short innings, of 26 from eight balls. There were defiant efforts as West Indies fought to take the match deep. A partnership of 49 between Hope and Rutherford kept vague hopes alive but when they were dismissed in consecutive overs by Brydon Carse and Bethell, those hopes were fading and they were left needing 100 runs from the last 30 balls.
There was some crisp ball striking by Rovman Powell and Holder in a seventh-wicket partnership of 52 in 4.2 overs but England bowled smartly at the death, chipping away with wickets at key moments and West Indies were never close to the required rate.
Dawson celebrates the wicket of Lewis as he continued his successful return to the England side
GETTY
There will be far tougher challenges ahead for Brook and his team with series against South Africa at home and New Zealand away later this year before a T20 World Cup early next year, but this T20 series and the preceding ODI one have shown the depth of talent and the aggression, power and skill that there is within England’s ranks.
Brook could not have been more pleased with the way his tenure has started. “The lads have played exceptional cricket,” he said. “It’s been a challenge at the start of my captaincy working out how to marshal the bowling but having Dawson and Rashid really helps. It really helps having the depth of batting, it gives the guys at the top of the order permission to go and get us off to a flyer. I am very happy. I feel like we are such a team, we are a bunch of mates who want to win games for England.
“I really believe that this team can beat anyone in the world — the depth we have in batting, the top three or four can go really hard and the skills that the bowlers possess — almost every player in the side is a world beater. I want people to want to play for England and that they are happy to sit out franchise tournaments to do it. The talent we have in white-ball cricket in this country is unbelievable”
Particularly pleasing has been seeing Buttler get back to his best. With the weight of captaincy off his shoulders, the former leader seems to have a new-found sense of freedom, hitting the ball as cleanly and powerfully as he ever has. It was no surprise that he was named player of the series, having hit 165 runs at 55.00, including 11 fours and eight sixes with a strike rate of 157 and, just as pleasing, were successful returns to international cricket for Dawson and Wood.