Holder's magical spell helps West Indies clinch T20I series vs England

BRIDGETOWN: All-rounder Jason Holder's four wickets in four balls and a superb bowling display by left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein (4/30) helped the West Indies defeat England by 17 runs in the fifth and final T20 International at the Kensington Oval here to clinch the series 3-2 on Monday (IST).

Holder joined Afghanistan's Rashid Khan, Ireland's Curtis Campher and Sri Lanka's Lasith Malinga as the only male bowlers to achieve the feat of four-in-four at T20I level, preventing a late England resurgence.

Batting first, West Indies notched up a fighting 179/4, thanks mainly to gutsy unbeaten knocks of 41 and 35 from captain Kieron Pollard and Rovman Powell, respectively. Holder (5/27) and Hosein then accounted for nine wickets among themselves as they bundled out the tourists for 162 with a ball remaining.

The West Indies innings started positively thanks to openers Brandon King (34) and Kyle Mayers (31), who ensured that the hosts took full advantage of the Powerplay overs. England pulled things back in their favour as their spin duo of Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone picked up both the openers in quick succession.

The England spinners continued to control the scoring rate as they finished their spells with two wickets each and with an economy of less than six runs per over.

It took a while for the West Indies batters to accelerate but with the fall of Nicholas Pooran's wicket (21), captain Pollard and Powell took on the England bowlers, finishing the innings at 179/4 with a very quick 74-run partnership between the big-hitting duo.

England's chase started poorly with Jason Roy (9) falling in the first over of their reply. While the visitors kept abreast with the required run-rate, they kept losing wickets at regular intervals with Tom Banton (16), Moeen Ali (14) and Liam Livingstone (6) all falling cheaply.

James Vince made a gallant 55 off 35 balls before being dismissed by Hosein, who finished with brilliant figures of 4-0-30-4. The England chase seemed to have lost steam after Vince's wicket. Sam Billings gave them some hope with a quick-fire 41 off 28 balls.

But it was the 'Holder show' to end the innings as the Windies all-rounder picked four wickets in four balls in the final over to complete a five-wicket haul. He becomes the first West Indian male player to take a T20I hat-trick.

Brief Scores: West Indies 179/4 in 20 overs (Brandon King 34, Kieron Pollard 41 not out, Rovman Powell 35 not out) beat England 162 in 19.5 overs (James Vince 55, Sam Billings 41; Akeal Hosein 4/30, Jason Holder 5/27) by 17 runs. IANS

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