||Desk Report|

West Indies equalled five-match series 2-2, beating England by 7 wickets in a low-scoring fifth ODI held in St Lucia on Saturday.

Oshane Thomas picked up 5 for 21 in 5.1 overs that restricted England at 113 all out in 28.1 overs. In reply, the Caribbeans used 73 balls and lost 3 wickets to reach the target of 114 runs.  

Earlier, the hosts invited the visitors to bat first but English batting order have been showed poor performance from the beginning and their top order collapsed. They lost all their crucial wickets early of the innings. Alex Hales and Jos Buttler managed the highest scores, as both batsmen scored 23-run each.  

England got the early blow with one of the openers Jonny Bairstow’s departure for 11 runs. Then they lost Joe Root for 1. Captain Eoin Morgan along with Hales tried to resist in the third wicket-stand but Hales’ departure for 23 broke the pair. After then, Morgan dismissed and retuned back for 18. Ben Stokes also failed and went back for 15.

The wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler tried to resist Caribbeans with first Moeen Ali (12) and then Chris Woakes (0). But, both Ali and Woakes failed to make a prefect partnership and were removed gradually by Thomas. And finally, Buttler was also dismissed, followed by Tom Curran (0) and Adil Rashid (0). Mark Wood remained not out for 0. England all dismissed for 113.

Thomas claimed 5-fer while captain Jason Holder and Carlos Brathwaite took two wickets each.

In reply of 114, Chris Gayle gives a solid start to the hosts. He along with another opener John Campbell added 40 runs in 3.2 overs. Then, Wood bowled Campbell out who added only 1 run in the opening stand. However, Gayle continued his shots and smashed 77 off only 27 balls including 9 sixes and 5 fours. Finally, he was also stopped by Wood and went back to pavilion. The Caribbeans lost another wicket of Shai Hope, who dismissed by Woakes for 13. Darren Bravo and Shimron Hetmyer remained unbeaten at 7 and 11 runs respectively. West Indies scored 115 for 3 in 12.1 overs and levelled the series 2-2. Mark Wood took two wickets for England.

Oshane Thomas was announced as the Man of the Match. And Chris Gayle took the Man of the Series spot with the highest 424 runs including two fifties and two centuries. The veteran hit a total of 39 sixes in the series. Meanwhile, England who lost the Test series by 2-1 to West Indies, started the ODI campaign with the win. They won first by 6 wickets and fourth ODI by 29 runs while West Indies won second and the last ODI by 26 runs and by 7 wickets. The third match was abandoned due to rain.

Windies captain Jason Holder said after the match, “Really proud of the guys. Tough for the bowlers this series. But they won us two games as well. Great to see the intent we showed today while chasing the target, led by Chris. Chris will be Chris. Learnt a lot from this series.”

On the other hand, England captain Eoin Morgan said, “We've competed well thought out, haven't been at our absolute best in this series. Support around the Caribbean has been awesome. Certainly, have a lot of positives to take from the series.” England now to play three-match T20 series against West Indies, scheduled to be held from March 5 in St Lucia.

Brief scores