Antigua: England captain Liam Livingstone struck a magnificent century to guide the tourists to a five-wicket victory over West Indies in the second ODI in Antigua on Saturday which squared the series at 1-1.
Set a formidable target of 329 to keep the three-match series alive, Livingstone cracked an unbeaten 124 off 85 balls including nine sixes as England timed their chase to perfection.
West Indies looked favourites after harvesting 93 off the final 10 overs of their innings in which Shai Hope struck a superb 117 and England tried nine different bowlers.
England had little margin for error at 160/4 after 28 overs but Livingstone, in partnership with Sam Curran who made a run-a-ball 52, kept them on track, although 100 off the last 10 overs for victory was still a sizeable task.
The pendulum swung rapidly towards the tourists though as Livingstone turned up the heat with some huge sixes off some poor West Indies bowling in his first ODI century.
In the end it was comfortable for England as Livingstone hit 22 runs off Shamar Joseph in the 47th over to make victory a formality. He scored the winning run with 15 balls to spare.
England’s innings was given some impetus by opener Phil Salt who made 59 off 59 balls while Jacob Bethell scored 55. Agencies
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