England cling on to avoid humiliation as West Indies’ late barrage falls short

Akeal Hosein and Romario Shepherd hit a barrage of late sixes to almost pull off what would have been one of the most miraculous comebacks in T20 history for the West Indies against England

England were spared another humiliation by an inch and the generosity of umpire Joel Wilson in an incredible finale to the second T20 international.

Chasing 172 for victory West Indies never looked in the hunt until Akeal Hosein and Romario Shepherd unleashed a late blizzard of sixes.

Needing 38 from 12 balls, then 30 from six balls, Saqib Mahmood’s final over went for 26 with two wides.

Yet on his second ball the hosts were furious after a third wide was not called by Wilson.

Had it been given, the last three balls sailing over the boundary off the bat of Hosein would have brought victory instead of a one run defeat.

Until the late flourish which saw the pair put on 72 for the ninth wicket and give huge momentum and hope going into Wednesday’s third T20 England were in complete control.

And Moeen Ali had spearheaded the fightback with a swashbuckling display with both bat and ball as England levelled the series.

The all-rounder smashed a 24-ball 31 as England finally found some teeth and followed it up with 3-24 as West Indies, chasing 172, slid to narrow defeat.

“I’m delighted, even with the last quarter of the game, these are the games we want to play in, tight games to work on death hitting and death bowling,” said England captain Eoin Morgan.

“The majority of the day we adapted well.”

This second act was played out to a bigger crowd than the opener after entry gridlock on Saturday saw hundreds of England fans with tickets miss out.

It was debatable whether Cricket West Indies had done them a favour given how badly England performed slumping to a nine wicket loss.

After such a miserable display there was always likely to be a reaction and Moeen, Jason Roy and Reece Topley, in for Tymal Mills were at the forefront.

Roy and Tom Banton had not stuck around long on Saturday but here they got England off to a decent start, putting on 36 before they were separated.

Yet it was a 61 run partnership between Roy and Moeen which built the platform for England to go over par.

Moeen enjoyed a bit of good fortune, reprieved on 6 by Darren Bravo’s misjudgement and dropped on 13 by Nicholas Pooran.

But by the time Roy holed out at long on, England had three figures before the end of the 13th.

A steady trickle of wickets stopped Morgan’s men going huge but on a ground which 150 has been about par in recent T20s 171-8 was competitive.

Topley got England off to a great start effecting breakthroughs in his first two overs, the second with an athletic run out to dismiss Shai Hope.

England’s spin twins of Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali with five wickets between them looked to have defused their reply.

But that was without reckoning on the late onslaught that so nearly brought victory from deep down the throat of defeat.