Windies vs England 2019: 2nd ODI - An All-Round Windies Fight Back to Level Terms

Windies bowlers staged a late comeback as Sheldon Cottrell’s maiden five-wicket haul despite half-centuries from Eoin Morgan and Ben Stokes each helped the host level terms in the series against England.

Meanwhile, England got off to the worst possible start losing openers Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow to Cottrell with only ten runs on the board. While Jonny Bairstow had a first-ball lbw, Jason Roy chopped one back on to leave the team in trouble. Since then skipper Morgan partnered Joe Root to bail England out with a fifty-run stand. Root was the aggressor but fell to Oshane Thomas – caught behind trying to cut a wide one – as England slipped to 60 for 3.

Pushed on the backfoot Morgan launched a counter-attack to bring his 25th half-century in the 25th over. He smacked Ashley Nurse, Thomas and even Chris Gayle to ease out the pressure as the visitors were marching towards the target. But a moment of brilliance from Cottrell helped them dismiss Morgan for 83-ball 70. Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler tried to steer England to a victory, but once they were out, Windies staged a brilliant comeback to level the series. Beside Cottrell, Jason Holder- who has been in great form, chipped in with three crucial wickets at the end.

Hetmyer was in song

Previously, a strong performance from the top-order followed by a charismatic century from Shimron Hetmyer helped the Caribbeans post 289 runs on the board. Chris Gayle- who scored a brilliant hundred, once again helped his side to get off to a good start. He along with John Campbell added 61 runs for the first wicket before Campbell departed.

A useful contribution from Shai Hope and an outstanding century from Hetmyer propelled Windies to a challenging score. The southpaw remained unbeaten on 104 runs from 83 balls including seven fours and four sixes. He spared none with Stokes and Tom Curran getting most of the hammering. 289 runs proved enough for the England batters as they could only manage 263 runs, thus falling 26 runs short.