England lost wickets when they shouldn’t have, but they didn’t make a meal of a strong-looking run-chase against the West Indies in the second T20I in Bristol and sealed the series with a game in hand. Jos Buttler, Jacob Bethell and Tom Banton all played their part to take England home.
England bested their five-wicket win against Pakistan five years ago in Manchester to register their highest successful run-chase in home T20Is after a collaborative batting effort in Bristol against the West Indies, taking a 2-0 unassailable lead in the three-match series. While Jos Buttler, Jacob Bethell and Tom Banton all played crucial cameos, the bowlers, led by a returning Luke Wood, also executed their roles to keep the big-hitting Windies batting line-up down under 200.
England may have lost a couple of wickets more than they would have hoped for, but starting from Ben Duckett all the way down to Harry Brook, Bethell and Banton knew what their role was. Jos Buttler dropped the anchor, those cameos of 20s and 30s at strike rates of 170, 220 and 270 sealed the deal for England. The quick wickets of Buttler and Brook first and Bethell and Will Jacks later on did make the contest interesting but Banton’s outrageous unbeaten 30 off just 11 balls saw the hosts through.
197 was the biggest chase at home for England in T20Is thus far, while South Africa holds the record for the highest successful chase in all international T20Is, against the West Indies in Centurion a couple of years ago. Overall, for England, the 230-run chase against South Africa in Mumbai during the T20 World Cup 2016 remains the highest.
It has been a terrific start for Harry Brook as the full-time white-ball captain for England after the Champions Trophy 2025 debacle, with a 3-0 series win in the ODIs and having already sealed the deal in T20Is too.
The West Indies, on the other hand, will aim to leave the English shores on a high after a series, which has been rather disappointing from the results perspective. The visitors haven’t been poor but they just haven’t been good enough to land a killer blow when they needed to.