WI vs ENG 2024/25, WI vs ENG 5th T20I Match Report, November 17, 2024
Match abandoned West Indies 44 for 0 (Lewis 29*, Hope 14*) vs England
England leave West Indies with a 3-1 T20I series victory after the final match of their Caribbean tour was washed out.
Lewis had just pulled a John Turner delivery for a thunderous six over deep midwicket and sent the next ball in the air wide of mid-on for four before he was rapped on the helmet by a steepling bouncer attempting another pull on the last ball of the over – and ultimately the match.
The rain arrived just as he was about to undergo on-field concussion checks, but he walked off smiling with the rest of the players.
With Hope unbeaten on 14 off 10 balls, it was an abrupt end to what had loomed as another entertaining encounter to end the series after the same pitch had yielded 32 sixes on Saturday.
On that occasion, West Indies had won the toss for the only time in this series, but they made a strong start in the face of Jos Buttler’s decision to bowl first on Sunday.
Turner, who was playing just his second T20I after making his debut in the fourth game of this series, conceded 22 runs from his two overs while Jofra Archer, replacing Saqib Mahmood for this match, went for 16 off 2. Jamie Overton, who didn’t bowl despite taking the field on Saturday, conceded five runs off his solitary over on Sunday.
Player of the Series Mahmood was comfortably the leading wicket-taker for the series with nine at an average of 10.55 and an economy rate of 6.33 with a best of 4 for 43 in the 1st T20I, eight of his wickets coming in the powerplay. Next best was West Indies’ left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein with five.
“The one thing I noticed being here previously is the crosswinds at most grounds,” Mahmood told the post-match presentation. “I felt that if I wanted to take the new ball, I’d have to work on my away-swinger a little bit just because Reece Topley and Jofra [Archer] would want the new ball from the other end to swing the ball back in. That’s something I worked on. To perform and show that in a game was nice.”