West Indies beat England by four wickets in the fifth and final T20I, at the Brian Lara Stadium, Tarouba, Trinidad, to clinch the five-match series 3-2. The hosts had a 2-0 lead before Jos Buttler-led England staged a strong comeback to push the series into the finale with a 2-2 scoreline but eventually lost the final game by four wickets courtesy of Gudakesh Motie’s three-fer and Shai Hope’s cautious 43*.

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Opting to bowl first, the Rovman Powell-led West Indies were on top from the word go. England’s innings never got going as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals and never got the late push they desired. Phil Salt, who made heads turn with two successive tons, fell for a 22-ball 38 and apart from him only Liam Livingstone (28) and Moeen Ali (21) got starts as England were dismissed for 132 in 19.3 overs. Player-of-the-Match Motie stood out with 3 for 24 whereas Akeal Hosein, Jason Holder and Andre Russell accounted for two wickets apiece. 

In reply, the Windies also had some soft dismissals but the small target enabled them to play smart cricket and got over the finish line. Hope made a run-a-ball 43 and was accompanied by Sherfane Rutherford (30 off 24 balls) and Johnson Charles’ 22-ball 27 as the hosts won the game despite taking it to the last over. The home side clinched the series in 19.2 overs to strengthen their preparations for the 2024 T20 World Cup, to be held in the West Indies and the USA. 

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After the game, Powell said at the post-match presentation, “Special thanks to the crowd of Trinidad and Tobago. We spent some time yesterday. We had some meetings. The last two games, the guys didn’t execute. We always knew Hope would be an important batter in this wicket. Credit to the groundsmen across the series. We as players are unhappy so many times. Motie was very good. Was good to mix experience with youth. I have a good bunch of guys around me. I try to lead from the front and they respect me so much.”

Meanwhile, Buttler said, “The conditions were different. 160 could have been a good score to defend. We did well to hang in there. Had we got few more runs to play, could have been different. He has had a brilliant series. As a team, we would take the learnings. Everyone got a hang of the new rule pretty quickly. The breeze plays a big part here. We have had a fantastic series, would have loved to win it.”

In 2023, the West Indies have won the T20I series against South Africa, India and England — with the last two coming at home — which will boost their confidence going into next year’s ICC event. 

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