Allrounder Jason Holder and left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein proved to be the star performers with the ball for West Indies in their much-savoured 17-run victory over England in the series-deciding T20I in Barbados on January 30.
The two bowlers were at their absolute best on the night and allowed West Indies to successfully defend their total of 179/4, dismissing the opposition for just 162 in the second half. The duo shared nine wickets between them, with Holder taking a rare T20 five-fer (5/27).
Holder’s exceptional five-fer featured a rarest of rare double hat-trick where he got four batters out off four successive deliveries. Holder redeemed himself for his struggles in the previous T20I of the series and ran through the England lower-order.
The double-hattrick was on show in the final over of the game. England started the 20th with the scoreboard reading 162/6 and them requiring 17 runs off the remaining six balls. But what followed was an excellent set of four balls from the former West Indies Test captain.
Holder began the over poorly, delivering a no-ball. But soon, he made amends in memorable fashion, getting the wickets of Chris Jordan, set-batter Sam Billings, Adil Rashid. At this point, the 30-year-old became the first West Indian to bag the perfect trio – and Saqib Mahmood off successive balls to finish off the proceedings.
Early in the second half, young spinner Hosein maintained a tight grip on run-scoring for his team and forced the England batters to take extra risks, resulting in timely breakthroughs at his end. Marrying accuracy with consistency, Hosein bagged stellar figures of four for 30 off his four overs.
Exploits of Holder and Hosein allowed the rest of the West Indies bowling attack to operate in a comforting space. That meant victory for their team despite posting 10-15 runs below par for the ground and the norm in a high-scoring T20I series.
England also had two stand-out performers with the ball in the first half – Adil Rashid (2/17) and Liam Livingstone (2/17) – but expensive spells at the other end allowed West Indies to push towards the 180-mark after winning the toss and opting to bat first.
The hosts had a collective batting effort. They got off to a solid start, thanks to a 59-run stand between Brandon King (34) and Kyle Mayers (31). There were stutters in the middle, with No.3 Romario Shepherd (6) falling early and wicketkeeper Nicholas Pooran (21) struggling through his painstaking 24-ball stay.
But the Calypso Kings came roaring back in the contest when skipper Kieron Pollard was joined by Rovman Powell. Pollard came to his team’s rescue with the bat in hand, smashing 41* runs off just 25 balls. At the other end, Powell blazed his willow for a quickfire 35 not out from 17 deliveries. The two players hit two fours and six maximums during a pivotal stand of 74 runs for the fifth wicket.
Things were different for England, who suffered a collapse at the beginning and the end of the innings. In the middle, however, they showcased their fight with No.3 James Vince making an attractive half-century (55) and Billings scoring a fighting 41 off 28 balls. But lack of substantial contributions at the other end eventually came back to haunt the Three Lions.
Brief scores
West Indies 179/4 in 20 overs (Pollard 41*, Powell 35*; Rashid 2/17) beat England 162/10 in 19.5 overs (Vince 55, Billings 41; Holder 5/27) by 17 runs
