The West Indies defeats the redesigned England thanks to Lewis.
Scorecard.
At the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, the Trinidadian took the lead and carried his team to within sight of their rain-revised mark with five fours and eight sixes in his 69-ball innings. He fell just before the finish as he tried to get his century with a six. After an inexperienced visiting lineup managed just 209 runs in 46 overs, with left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie collecting 4-41, his team was chasing a small goal.
Sam Curran (37), and stand-in skipper Liam Livingstone (48 from 49 deliveries) put up 72 for the fifth wicket, but they were the only two batsmen to reach 30 as England struggled to establish a rhythm. Bowling at high pace and pulling edges, England seamers Jofra Archer and John Turner, two of the team's four debutants, regularly caused problems for Lewis and his fellow opener Brandon King. Lewis, however, settled down and hit 50 from 46 deliveries after they failed to make any headway. He cleared the leg-side boundary five times.
When play began with the home team's goal changed to 157 due to rain, Lewis continued where he left off, and his team came within 13 runs of winning. To clinch a full victory, captain Shai Hope walked to the plate and struck the winning runs in the 26th over. Prior to Wednesday's final ODI in Barbados, the two teams will play again at the same location on Saturday at 13:30 GMT.
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First-time captain Livingstone knew it would be difficult to lead a young team to the Caribbean, and a lost toss in which he acknowledged that he would have bowled like opposite number Hope did not help. Rather, his charges were forced to bat on a difficult surface with lots of swing and grip. Will Jacks and Phil Salt, the openers, combined for 39 runs, but both were unable to use their signature explosive pinch-hitting and fell off Jayden Seales' bowling in rapid succession.
Neither Jacob Bethell (27) nor Jordan Cox (17), who was playing in only his sixth one-day match in his career, were able to force their way into the game, blasting leading edges off Matthew Forde high into the Antigua sky and into the hands of fielders who were waiting.
After hitting three fours and two sixes in his 49-ball innings, Livingstone appeared to have the ability to turn the tide of the match in England's favor for a brief while. However, he was dismissed easily, chipping Motie's delivery back to the bowler two runs short of his half-century. Before seamer Alzarri Joseph returned to finish the innings, the spinner claimed the first of four consecutive wickets.
Despite their initial struggles, Lewis and King—who scored a scratchy 30 from 56—found their rhythm towards the end of the powerplay and proceeded to consistently loft England's bowlers over the boundary boundaries. Before King was caught by Will Jacks off Livingstone's bowling, the opening duo put on 118. When Lewis attempted to clear long-off, he would end up in Bethell's clutches, but the match was already finished.
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