Bristol (England), June 9: England cricket captain Harry Brook praised the unity of his “group of mates” Sunday after sealing his second series win in just 11 days.
England won the second Twenty20 cricket international against West Indies by four wickets with nine balls remaining to take an insurmountable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. England scored 199-6 in 18.3 overs after West Indies lost the toss and posted 196.
Brook has won five in a row against the West Indies since taking over from Jos Buttler, including a 3-0 sweep in the ODI matches.
England didn’t have it easy at Bristol, with the asking rate climbing past 11 per over at one stage as it chased down West Indies’ target.
But the team stuck together to get over the line, with five of the top six batters making handy contributions before Jacob Bethell (26) and Tom Banton (30 not out) hammered 56 off just 21 deliveries between them to puncture the West Indian resistance.
Buttler again top scored for England with 47 off 36 deliveries. He hit 96 when England beat West Indies by 21 runs in the series opener on Friday.
It was the kind of game England was tending to lose in the difficult final days under Buttler, whose captaincy ended with eight straight defeats across both white ball formats.
After dominating the West Indies in three one-day internationals, England was expected to receive a tougher contest from the visitors, who are higher-rated in T20s than ODIs.
Expensive 19th over
West Indies smashed 47 runs off the last two overs of its innings, including 31 runs in the 19th over against spinner Adil Rashid, with his six deliveries going for 6-6-6-1-6-6.
Jason Holder (29 not out) hit the first three sixes and Romario Shepherd added the last two.
Skipper Shai Hope was top scorer for West Indies with a 38-ball 49, including four sixes. He shared an 89-run partnership for the second wicket with Johnson Charles after opener Evin Lewis was trapped lbw to Luke Wood (2-25 in four overs) on the first ball of the match. Charles hit three sixes and three fours in his 39-ball 47 before he was bowled by Wood.
West Indies had No. 2-ranked T20 bowler Akeal Hosein (1-33) back with them on Sunday. Hosein missed the first T20 as he was unable to travel to England in time because of recent changes to Britain’s visa entry requirements for Trinidad and Tobago citizens. (AP)
