Holder ends England, West Indies win T20 series

 


BRIDGETOWN: Local hero Jason Holder took four wickets in successive balls during a dramatic last over as West Indies beat England by 17 runs to seal a 3-2 series win in the fifth and deciding Twenty20 International at the Kensington Oval on Sunday.

Akeel Hossein had already slowed England's progress, taking a format-best of four for 30.

James Vince, who was dismissed for an innings-top score of 55, fell for the left-arm spinner.

However, England were still in the game, requiring 20 runs to reach the target of 180, when all-rounder Holder began bowling the final over of the match at his Barbados home ground.

Despite starting the over with a no-ball, Chris Jordan and Sam Billings were removed along with their second and third valid deliveries, aided by a catch at deep midwicket by substitute fielder Hayden Walsh Jr.

Holder then took Adil Rashid to deep square leg before ending the match when he bowled Saqib Mahmood, both batsmen getting out for golden ducks.

Sri Lanka's Lasith Malinga, Afghanistan's Rashid Khan and Ireland's Curtis Camper are the only men to have taken four wickets in four balls in T20 Internationals.

Holder made a career-best comeback of five for 27 in 2.5 overs and had already removed England's stand-in captain Moeen Ali.

"I pride myself on no-balls (not bowling), happy with how I came back, bowled a dot ball and then they had to come hard, so I got four wickets," Holder said.

The former West Indies captain was named player of the match and series at the Kensington Oval after picking up 15 wickets in five matches.

"I'm excited for the moment, I love playing at Kensington Oval," he said. "It's the best place in the world to play cricket."

'City of Holders'

Billings scored 41 off 28 balls to keep England in the game as the tourists were bowled out for 162 in 19.5 overs.

West Indies captain Kieron Pollard scored a late run scoring an unbeaten 41 for a total of 179 for four.

His bowlers then got the job done as West Indies enjoyed a much-needed success after losing the One Day International series against Ireland earlier this month after beating them by 34 runs in the fourth T20I on Saturday.

"It was a different game from last night and we took advantage with the bat in the last four overs," said Pollard, sharing an unbroken partnership of 74 runs in five overs with midweek century-scorer Rovman Powell (35 not out).

"It's Jason Holder's ground, his town, but it was a total team effort on our part."

Moeen was again leading the England side due to the disappearance of injured captain Eoin Morgan, which has deprived the tourists of all series of T20 regulars Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes after the hard-hitting Ashes.

But Moin was in no mood to make excuses.

"I thought West Indies were the better team," he said, adding: "They were smarter than us today with bat and ball."

abbreviated number

West Indies 179-4, 20 overs (Kieron Pollard No. 41, Rovman Powell No. 35, Adil Rashid 2-17, Liam Livingstone 2-17)

England 162, 19.5 overs (James Vince 55, Sam Billings 41; Jason Holder 5-27, Akil Hossein 4-30)

Result: West Indies won by 17 runs

Series: West Indies won the five-match series 3-2

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