England Defeated by 260 (Jones 70*, Dunkley 57). West Indies 118 (Williams 54*, Bell 4-33) by 142 runs
In a better performance with ball and field after a heavy 142-run defeat in the series opener, West Indies managed to bowl out England for 260 in 48.1 overs, despite Jones’ 70 and Dunkley’s unbeaten 57. .
But Bell took two wickets in his first three balls, 3 for 3 in two overs, and ended the first spell of seven overs with 4 for 26 to take the West Indies to six in the first 10 overs of the reply. But scored 50 runs.
Playing just his fifth one-day international and eighth international since making his Test debut against South Africa in June, Bale took advantage of some eye-catching lateral movement from the start.
She drove Hayley Matthews to a fuller ball outside off which went to Heather Knight at slip, and it was a similar delivery to Cassia Knight as Bell got one to the left-hander and the wicket. Caper Jones came together.
Cross, a decade her senior at 31, struck on the first ball of her second over when she caught Alia Elaine behind as the West Indies trailed for 4 in the third over of their innings. 3 runs scored. Bale then hit Shaman Campbell with a yorker on the pads for his third score and the hosts were in disarray at 8 for 4.
Cross produced the first short ball of his spell to find the edge under Cheddon Nation’s attempted pull and Jones left it to make it 28 for 5, then Shabika Gjanbi gifted Bell his fourth wicket. I chased a short ball down the leg side. , and Jones took his fourth catch of the match.
Dean took the wickets of Effie Fletcher and last batsman Shanita Greymond before dismissing Ecclestone’s Cheri-Anne Fraser at the top of the off-stump.
“Levy said a lot about playing without fear and there’s no limit to what we can achieve,” Bell said. “I feel like we saw that today. We’re not particularly looking at changing our game plan as we go through the rest of the tour, our mind is on each game as they come and that’s it. Playing with aggression and positivity like we did today, it’s very liberating.”
Lamb and Timmy Beaumont settled well, reaching 42 for no loss but then Lamb was run out by Cambele and England were 2 wickets when Beaumont had Alleyne run out by Gjinbi at mid-on. But it was 65.
Dunkley edged Fraser for four as he and Knight put on 51 for the fourth wicket, before Mathews caught Knight out. Dunkley departed when he attempted a slug sweep to Fletcher, only to see his stumps ripped open.
Jones picked up where Dunkley left off, however, easing his way to a 49-ball fifty. She drove Fraser straight up the ground for her eighth four, but she was bowled out for 70 off 63 balls, her highest since 2019 and only her second fifty this year. Mathews took the last two wickets – taking a return catch at the cross and deceiving Bale with one that hit mid-on – to finish with 3 for 50 in 9.1 overs.
Despite failing to see off their allotment, England can take some reassurance from the fact that the West Indies had failed to reach 200 in their last nine ODI innings, but it was their opening bowlers who put the result in doubt. Exceeded.
West Indies head coach Courtney Walsh said: “In both games we didn’t bat well, we were on a much better batting track with the ball in that game and for the score where we got them to 260, I thought That we batted better. We lost those early wickets and never recovered. Batsmen can take a lot from Rushda’s performance, I am happy with how he went about it and showed that. It can be done.”
Valkerie Baynes is the General Editor at ESPNcricinfo.
