England, coming off a win earlier in the week, tried to take the final T20I against West Indies “as deep as they could” but the hosts bounced back to a four-wicket and 3-2 series win here.

West Indies went into the last over chasing nine runs to win. Jason Holder secured three off Chris Woakes’ first delivery and top-scorer Shai Hope (run-a-ball 43) hit the winning six off the next ball.

Sam Curran had given England a chance in the previous over, giving away only two runs and taking a wicket.

“It was closer than we thought at the end, yes. We kept losing key wickets but we always knew Shai Hope was going to be the important man on this pitch,” said West Indies captain Rovman Powell.

The victory completed a hat-trick of T20 series wins for the West Indies in 2023 after beating South Africa away and India at home.

Earlier, England were all out for 132 with three deliveries to spare after a late collapse to some stunning bowling and fielding by the home side.

Opener Phil Salt, who smashed 119 off 57 balls at the same ground on Tuesday to square the series, was bowled by Man of the Match Gudakesh Motie (3/24) for a top score of 38 immediately after hitting a six as the visitors slumped to 60/3.

Captain Jos Buttler had already gone for 11, caught by Oshane Thomas off Holder.

Salt’s score took his series tally to 331 runs but England’s batting lacked the heft of the last match in which they belted 19 sixes en route to 267/3.

“It’s disappointing to come out on the wrong side of it,” said Salt. “It was another good game and we took it as deep as we could. Hope played a really good knock and I think we will be better off in the coming months for this experience,” he added, referring to next year’s T20 World Cup.

Reuters