England thrash West Indies in final ODI to secure whitewash after game was delayed because the visitors were stuck in London traffic

Daily Mail​

2 days ago

A day that began with England crossing the Thames on Lime bikes turned into a stroll in the park as Harry Brook's one-day team completed a 3–0 whitewash over West Indies with a dominant seven-wicket win.
With faulty traffic lights at Vauxhall Bridge causing gridlock, several England players got off the team bus after leaving their hotel in Kensington and cycled to The Oval instead. The West Indians, travelling down from Chelsea, got stuck in Parliament Square altogether, and turned up so late that the scheduled 1pm start was delayed by half an hour.
They may have wished they had never arrived at all, as England's powerful batting line-up made light work of a chase of 246 after heavy rain shortened the match to 40 overs a side. There were still more than 10 remaining when Jos Buttler pulled Jayden Seales for the winning six.
These are early days for Brook's white-ball reset, and sterner challenges lie ahead, but they move into the three-match T20 series, starting at Chester-le-Street on Friday, with a long-absent spring in their step. A total of 400 in Birmingham, a Joe Root-inspired chase of 309 in Cardiff, and now a demolition job in south London: they have done everything they could, and they have done it in style.
Only when Gutakesh Motie and Alzarri Joseph were thrashing 90 in 11.2 overs for West Indies' eighth wicket did England threaten to lose control, with their three frontline seamers all erring in length. But the excellence of Adil Rashid, who was on a hat-trick after removing Justin Greaves and Roston Chase, had given them breathing space by reducing the tourists to 121 for six.
Even with Sherfane Rutherford cracking a run-a-ball 70 – his seventh score of 50 or more in his 11 ODI innings – West Indies were always chasing the game. England's openers then ensured they never caught up, with Jamie Smith hammering 64 in 28 balls on his home ground, including 58 in boundaries, and Ben Duckett 58 in 46.
Both players enjoyed a reprieve: Duckett was dropped on 15 at long leg by Rutherford, and Smith on 44 at midwicket by Greaves. But in between they hit the ball hard and often: their opening stand of 93 used up just seven overs and, when Duckett fell in the 16th, the total was already 155. A study in contrasts, Smith and Duckett feel like an alliance that may endure.
England's rate of progress removed what little sting there was from the contest, though a near full house still enjoyed an innings of 44 from Root, who took his series haul to 267 runs from 253 balls for twice out. If he can take this form into the Test series against India starting on June 20, his summer will get better still.
With Brook – dropped on four by Chase at backward point – almost a bystander, Buttler hastened victory with 41 off 20 balls, bringing England their first one-day clean sweep for three years, and leaving West Indies without a 50-over victory against them in this country since 2007.