England crush West Indies to complete 3-0 series sweep

Observer

3 days ago

LONDON: Jamie Smith struck a maiden one-day international fifty to set-up England's victorious run chase as they completed a 3-0 series sweep of the West Indies at his Oval home ground on Tuesday.
Player-of-the-match Smith, opening in ODIs for the first time this series, launched England's pursuit of a revised target of 246 with a quickfire 64 in a match reduced by rain to 40 overs per side
"It felt great on my home ground, getting the team off to a good start, taking the pressure off the middle order," Smith told Sky Sports during the presentation ceremony. "That is the role I want to take on."
Victory meant Harry Brook led England to a whitewash in his first series as permanent white-ball captain after they had lost their seven previous matches at this level, culminating in a woeful exit from this year's Champions Trophy in Pakistan. Brook was 26 not out at the finish but it was Jos Buttler, his predecessor as captain, who ended the match with an emphatic six out of the ground off fast bowler Jayden Seales that capped an unbeaten 41. "We have been talking about being dominant and finishing the series 3-0," said Brook, adding: "Smith took the game away from West Indies in the powerplay which is what we like to see."
England made a blistering start to their chase, scoring 93 in the first seven overs. Smith's fifty came off 25 balls, including nine fours and two sixes. He hit four boundaries in four balls in the seventh over before being bowled by Gudakesh Motie, who earlier made a fine 63 in West Indies' total of 251-9 but conceded 74 runs in his eight overs.
EVOLVING ROOT
Smith's exit brought in Joe Root, fresh from steering England to a three-wicket win in Cardiff on Sunday with an ODI best of 166 not out that saw the star batsman become his country's leading run-scorer in this format.Ben Duckett completed a 34-ball fifty including four fours and three sixes, before the left-handed opener fell for 58 when he flayed off-spinner Roston Chase to cover.
Root could only manage 44 on Tuesday before he was caught top-edging a hook off Alzarri Joseph. But that still meant the player-of-the-series had scored 267 runs in three innings at an average of 133.5.
"There is so much data out there so you have to evolve and expand your game," said Root, also England's leading run-scorer in Test cricket.
Earlier, Sherfane Rutherford top-scored for the West Indies with 70 in his first match of the series. The tourists slumped to 121-6, with veteran England leg-spinner Adil Rashid (3-40) taking three wickets in quick succession.
But Motie and Alzarri Joseph (41) shared an eighth-wicket stand of 91 in 12 overs before Smith made the West Indies' total look inadequate.
The West Indies' day got off to a bad start when traffic problems meant they arrived at the ground late, delaying the start by 30 minutes.
England avoided the traffic by riding bikes and made the most of winning the toss to leave their opponents 28-3 inside seven overs. "There are always positives you can take from any series, any match," said West Indies captain Shai Hope, out for a golden duck at the Oval, ahead of a three-match T20 series against England starting at Chester-le-Street on Friday. — AFP