BIG HAND FOR HALES
Alex blasts back
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ALEX HALES made a sizzling century on his first game back from a broken hand as England destroyed West Indies to win the series 3-0.
Joe Root also made his first ODI ton in nearly a year as England won by a towering 186 runs, having made 328.
It was England’s first clean sweep of any series in the Caribbean but a green West Indies side never looked like chasing down the runs and were dismissed for 142 in 39.2 overs.
Hales was the key to the tourists’ huge total after a slow start in his first game since recovering from a fractured bone in his right hand to hit 110, his fifth ODI century.
And Root, whose unbeaten 90 guided England to a series-clinching victory in Antigua on Sunday, cashed in after being dropped twice to get 101, his ninth ODI hundred.
Hales’ place was brought into question after a nightmare few months that saw him dropped from the Test team and then score only 23 runs in 2017 before he broke his hand fielding against India in January.
Ahead of this summer’s Champions Trophy, Hales said: “It’s been a very emotional time, the last six months have been long and frustrating. “To come back in my first match and get a hundred is a great feeling.
“After choosing not to go to Bangladesh, in India the injury came at a bad time. “I was a little bit anxious but that is only natural.” There was a sweet moment for Ben Stokes when he dismissed Carlos Brathwaite, who hit him for four successive finalover sixes to rob England of the World T20 title in India last April, with his first ball of this series.