West Indies vs England 3rd ODI 2023/24 – Match Review

Innings break
England 206 for 9 (Duckett 71, Forde 3-29, Joseph 3-61) vs West Indies

In front of his home crowd, the Bajan seamer returned figures of 3 for 29 in his eight overs, the bulk of the damage taking place in his opening six-over burst. With 3 for 18 in that stretch, he instigated a top-order capitulation that saw England reduced to 49 for 5 inside the 10th over of a innings originally reduced to 43 overs after the start was delayed by two hours due to rain. Another break meant a further reduction, and rain in the interval left West Indies needing 188 from 34 overs to win their first ODI series against England since 2007.

Salt was typically bullish, flaying the second delivery over point for four, but botched a drive to Alzarri Joseph at mid-off, whose catch passed the sniff test after the umpires sent it upstairs to check the fingers were under the ball. Bounce then did for Zak Crawley, attempting to leave outside off stump only for the ball to lift and kiss the glove for a dolly to Alick Athanaze at second slip.

The best of the opening trio was the removal of Will Jacks, the man who set up England’s series-levelling victory in the second ODI with 73. Forde angled one into the right-hander which held its line enough on pitching to skim Jacks’ edge through to Hope, making it 45 for 3 at the start of the ninth over – the last of the first powerplay with the revised playing conditions.

Things went from bad to comical for England in the next over. Joseph was brought into the attack for the 10th and was loose enough to field his second delivery into the leg side before throwing down the non-striker’s end stumps after Harry Brook had tipped and run for an ambitious single. Two balls later, Jos Buttler was walking off for a golden duck having top-edged a well-directed short ball from Joseph to Gudakesh Motie down at fine leg.

And so came an all-too-familiar sense of dread from an English perspective. As impressively as Forde had begun, the situation was reminiscent of the various moments of disarray England had found themselves in during the 2023 World Cup, with a few new faces.

It was one of those new faces in Duckett who set about the rebuild. Having arrived on the scene in the third over – England had only lost two wickets by then – he was an engaging presence at the crease even amid the decline at the other end. Three boundaries in four deliveries from Romario Shepherd ultimately saw the bowler removed from the attack after his fourth over.

Together, Duckett and Livingstone set about ticking over, safe in the knowledge that Forde’s six overs meant they would not be seeing him for a while. They knocked about spinners Motie and Yannic Cariah with ease – the latter guided through point for the single to take Duckett to his fourth ODI score of 50 or more, from 56 deliveries.

Set by the time Joseph was reintroduced for the 22nd over, Duckett and Livingstone exchanged sixes to score 17 from six deliveries. Duckett’s, the first of the innings, came over fine leg before Livingstone heaved over midwicket. The tide seemed to be turning, particularly when Livingstone was given a life on 31 when Keacy Carty shelled a straightforward high catch out at deep square leg after an unnecessary hack across the line.

That should have been a learning experience for the Lancashire allrounder. But he fell on 45 to an even worse shot, clothing to mid-on when trying to clear the straight boundary. A dismissal made all the worse coming 17 balls after Duckett had unwittingly prodded to midwicket to end his impressive resistance, and the sixth-wicket stand on 88.

One, ideally both, had to go deep, but with 15 overs to go, Sam Curran and Rehan Ahmed were the fresh duo at the crease. They put on 19 between them, Rehan with a couple of with impressive drives through and over cover off Cariah and Shepherd, before the rain returned to take the players off after the 33rd over, with England 161 for 7.

The 45-minute delay took three overs with it and ramped up the pressure on the tail to score quickly. Joseph profited from it, with Rehan scuffing a rising delivery through to Hope, then Curran skewing a shorter, slower delivery out to Motie at deep third. Gus Atkinson then pulled for six and around the corner for four off the first two deliveries of Joseph’s final over.

Carty dropped his second catch of the innings when Matthew Potts found him at cover which would have restricted England to 190. The single emanating from the mistake gave Atkinson back the strike, who edged Forde’s penultimate delivery down to deep third for four.

Potts then struck the first ball of the final over from Shepherd through midwicket for four, then pulled around the corner as England fought their way up to 200 and beyond.