England restrict West Indies to 202 in 2nd ODI
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA, (AFP) – England’s bowlers capitalised on an indisciplined West Indies batting performance to dismiss the home side for 202 batting first in the second One-Day International of a three-match series at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua.
But for a 129-run fifth-wicket partnership between captain Shai Hope (68) and Sherfane Rutherford (63), it would have been a complete capitulation by the Caribbean team which had shown tremendous spirit to successfully chase down a target of 326 in the first match at the same venue just three days earlier.
Seamer Sam Curran and occasional spinner Liam Livingston were the chief destroyers with three wickets each while Curran’s new ball partner Gus Atkinson and frontline spinner Rehan Ahmed shared in the spoils with two wickets apiece.
Reduced to 23 for four by Curran and Atkinson after being put in to bat in the day/night fixture, Hope, “Man of the Match” with a match-winning unbeaten 109 in the first fixture, and Rutherford effected an excellent recovery only for Livingstone to trigger another collapse with the wickets of both in quick succession.
A measure of the recklessness displayed by the West Indies at the crease was that their innings folded with 10 overs of the allotted 50 unused as successive players attempted to outdo each other in the extravagance of their strokeplay.