Brilliant centuries from Jason Roy and Joe Root helped England pull of the third-highest successful run chase in ODI cricket, as the visitors triumphed in the first match of the five-match series against Windies.
Roy made 123 and Root 102 as the visitors scored 364 for four to win by six wickets with eight balls to spare and take a 1-0 lead in the five-game series in front of a near-capacity crowd at Kensington Oval.
Chasing down a target of 361, England’s victory came with eight balls to spare as they pulled of their highest chase in the format. The effort followed on from Windies’ pyrotechnics with the bat – the home side hit a world-record 23 sixes in their innings, with 12 of them coming from the blade of the returning Chris Gayle. Nevertheless, it was the visitors who came out on top thanks to a brilliant all-round batting performance.
Windies’ onslaught with the bat came initially from debutant John Campbell. Having impressed with his aggression in the Test arena, Campbell enjoyed a racing start to his ODI career. After eight overs, Campbell had 30 from 25 deliveries while at the other end, Gayle was of stark contrast, appearing less than comfortable with six from 23 balls.
Campbell (30) departed to Woakes in the ninth over and it brought the arrival of Shai Hope, whose Test series had been a lean one. Nevertheless, the right-hander looked in glorious touch from the early stages of his knock – Mark Wood was on the wrong end of two consecutive boundaries in the 10th over.
Gayle’s continued toil almost resulted in him departing for a desperately slow knock of nine – with Jason Roy dropping the opener off the bowling of Liam Plunkett.
Eventually things began to click for the veteran, and alongside the 25-year-old Hope, England’s bowling began to take a hit. The par put on a partnership of 131, some blistering hits for six a large part of the accumulation.
