West Indies win T20I series, 4 wickets in 4 balls for Holder

BRIDGETOWN: Pacer Jason Holder took four wickets in four balls to blow up the last over of England’s run chase as West Indies won the fifth Twenty20 game by 17 runs to capture the series 3-2. West Indies won the toss, chose to bat and scored 179-4 at the Kensington Oval. In reply, England was all out for 162 with one ball left after entering the final over at 160-6 and needing 20 runs to win.

In that last over, Holder first claimed the wicket of Chris Jordan (7) caught on the fence, followed by the dismissal of Sam Billings (41 runs off 28) before golden ducks for Adil Rashid and Saqib Mahmood. Holder joined an exclusive club when Mahmood’s inside edge nicked leg stump. Lasith Malinga, Rashid Khan and Curtis Campher are the only other bowlers in men’s cricket to take four-infour in a T20 international.

Holder did not get a chance to go for five wickets in five balls with no England batters left. The allrounder finished with 5-27 from 2.5 overs. James Vince topscored for England with 55 off 35 but was one of left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein’s four wickets after holing out. Hosein took 4-30 from four overs.

Earlier, West Indies had been frustrated by England’s spinners but captain Kieron Pollard (41*off 25) and Rovman Powell (35*off 17) shared an undefeated fifth-wicket stand of 74 to give the hosts a reasonable target to set. The pair added 66 in the final 24 balls. Rashid (2-17) leapfrogged Jordan as England men’s leading T20 wicket-taker with 81 career wickets. Liam Livingstone collected identical figures and Moeen Ali yielded just 54 from their 10 overs, with England’s quicks repeatedly targeted by West Indies.