(CRICINFO) – For the first time since July, England have won two matches in a row – with starring roles for two young batsmen – but it was not without some tension towards the end as Denesh Ramdin flayed the ball around the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in a career-best 128, but ultimately West Indies’ under-performing top order had left too much to do. 

Ramdin’s was not the first maiden hundred of the day; it was Joe Root’s that finished on the winning side.
Two players viewed as central to England’s rebuilding formed the most substantial part in their success as Root, battling the pain of a damaged thumb, and Jos Buttler added 175 for the fifth wicket although it turned out more of those runs were needed than appeared likely at one point of West Indies’ chase.
At 43 for 4 it needed something of James Faulkner in Brisbane and Shahid Afridi in Mirpur combined to turn the innings around.
It was not far off emerging. For a while Ramdin and Darren Sammy threatened with a stand of 71 in 10 overs, then Ramdin continued the charge with the first hundred by a West Indies keeper in one-day cricket.
He took advantage of England’s persistence at bowling short, fetching sixes on both sides of the wicket, and there was a lesson for England’s bowlers when Bresnan finally ended the chances of an incredible turnaround with, yes, a yorker that hit leg stump.
West Indies will rue that none of their top four could provide a similar role to Root because Ramdin’s late onslaught reminded, yet again, that asking rates of over ten an over are achievable with wickets in hand,
Root’s hundred came off 112 balls and was another window into the character of this 23-year-old who, like many, endured a tough time in Australia where he lost his place in the Test and one-day sides.
Buttler appeared set to join him with a maiden century, but facing Ravi Rampaul in the final over got a leading edge so he had to settle for 99 off 84 balls, but their impish partnership, pot-marked by Buttler’s strong hitting in the later stages, was England’s second highest for the fifth wicket.
Root’s fine day continued when he struck in his first over, but he soon had to leave the field to have ice treatment on his thumb and was set for an X-ray.
England’s innings was in the balance at the midway mark, West Indies having removed four wickets to even out Moeen Ali’s maiden half-century – a fluent innings ended by a leading edge to Nikita Miller – but Root and Buttler meant England did not stall from a potentially tricky 116 for 4 after Eoin Morgan had been beaten by Sunil Narine’s spin.
There was a key moment when Buttler had 22 and successfully overturned a caught-behind decision, despite there not appearing to be conclusive evidence to do so, and earlier Root had been given a life on 23 when Ramdin could not gather an outside edge off Narine.
England played Narine cautiously for most of his allotment but his ninth over cost 21 as Buttler twice cleared the boundary – the second occasion off a free-hit and the batting Powerplay had not proved to be the downfall it so often seems, bringing a consolidating 36 in the five overs, which set up a final 10 overs that accrued 94.
Root had started his innings facing a hat-trick delivery from Dwayne Bravo after the West Indies captain had removed Michael Lumb and Ben Stokes.
He calmly defended the delivery, but was in some severe discomfort a short while later when a ball from Rampaul climbed at him from a good length, striking a nasty blow on the thumb of his bottom hand.
He needed several minutes of treatment, some strapping and a dose of painkillers before resuming and then had to ensure his thumb did not seize up during a brief rain break. He continued to shake his hand throughout the innings, especially when the ball struck higher up his bat, but in a tremendous display of focus and application did not let it impact his strokeplay.
Buttler had missed out in the first two matches of the series when his finishing skills were needed, but in this innings reminded that he can set a total as well as hunt one down. Early on, he still barely knew what Narine was bowling, but reined in his ambitions to attack him knowing that there was easier fare on offer from the other end.
After bringing up his fifty off 56 deliveries he then opened his shoulders to pick up four sixes, forming an ideal contrast to Root who, while possessing the power to clear the ropes, played the anchor role and ran West Indies ragged.
West Indies’ chase began in fairly shambolic fashion; Kieran Powell missing a sweep and Dwayne Smith picking out deep square-leg against Stuart Broad’s first ball.
Broad bowled a lively five-over spell which included a heated four-ball period against Lendl Simmons, whom Broad was convinced had edged behind and was flabbergast when the TV umpire, quite understandably, upheld the not-out decision.
“Come on lads, guilty shot coming,” shouted Buttler from behind the stumps and three balls later Simmons dragged a pull into his stumps much to Broad’s delight, although it could easily have been classed as much as ‘poor shot’ as ‘guilty shot’.
Unlike Buttler, a caught-behind decision off Marlon Samuels was upheld and when Dwayne Bravo edged Ravi Bopara the requirement was 173 off 20 overs.
To start with there was a sense of hopeful dash in the way Ramdin and Sammy played, but such was their impact that the run-rate – if not the wickets in hand – was not out of hand and there was relief for England when Ben Stokes took a superbly-judged boundary catch at deep square-leg, while Ramdin continued to swing freely, but he could not rely much on the lower order.
Miller found it difficult to get the ball away and Narine, after one towering six, was caught backing up too far.
However, when Ramdin crunched the first three balls of the 48th over for six, four, four it was not beyond the realms he could finish the game himself, but Bresnan remembered one of cricket’s long-standing limited-overs deliveries and it was an untidy finish for England, but after the six months they have had they will take a series win whatever way it comes.

SCORECARD

ENGLAND innings
M. Lumb c Narine b Dwayne Bravo 20
M. Ali c & b Miller 55
B. Stokes c Rampaul b Dwayne Bravo 0
J. Root c DM Bravo b Dwayne Bravo 107
E. Morgan b Narine 1
J. Buttler+ c & b Rampaul 99
R. Bopara not out 5
T. Bresnan not out 1
Total: /(for 6 wickets, 50 overs)303
Extras: (lb-5, w-8, nb-2) 15
Fall of wickets: 1-37, 2-37, 3-115, 4-116, 5-291, 6-300.
Bowling: Dwayne Bravo 10-0-60-3, Rampaul 8-0-55-1, Sammy 5-0-35-0, Smith 1-0-6-0, Narine 10-1-52-1, Miller 10-0-48-1, Samuels 5-0-29-0, Simmons 1-0-13-0.

WEST INDIES innings
K. Powell b Root 1
D. Smith c Ali b Broad 9
Darren Bravo c Bopara b Ali 16
L. Simmons b Broad 16
M. Samuels c Buttler b Parry 23
D. Ramdin+ b Bresnan 128
Dwayne Bravo c Buttler b Bopara 27
D. Sammy c Stokes b Bresnan 24
N. Miller c Jordan b Bresnan 10
S. Narine run-out Jordan 10
R. Rampaul not out 0
Total:: (all out, 47.4 overs) 278
Extras: (b-3, lb-6, w-5) 14
Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-10, 3-42, 4-43, 5-80, 6-131, 7-202, 8-246, 9-263.
Bowling: Root 3-0-24-1, Broad 9-0-58-2, Ali 1-0-5-1, Parry 9-1-60-1, Bresnan 4.4-0-45-3, Tredwell 10-1-38-0, Stokes 4-0-21-0, Bopara 3-0-18-1.
Result: England won by 25 runs
Series: West Indies 1-2 England
Man-of-the-Match: Joe Root
Man-of-the-Series: Joe Root