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Root and Woakes guide England to West Indies series win

6 March 2017

A magnificent seventh-wicket partnership of 102* between Joe Root (90*) and Chris Woakes (68*) saw England home to a four-wicket win in the second ODI at Antigua. The victory sees them take the series with a game still to play.

England were professional in the first innings of the match. Fielding first after losing the toss, they dismissed West Indies for 225, with 13 balls of the innings to spare. Liam Plunkett followed his first ODI performance of four for 40 with three for 32, here. His wickets accounted for half-centurion Jason Mohammed and Jonathan Carter (39), whose runs looked to be guiding the hosts to a competitive score.

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There were two wickets apiece for Steven Finn and Adil Rashid, while Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes, who did not bowl in the first ODI, took one each. Finn's wickets saw him become the third quickest Englishman to 100 ODI wickets.

Crucially, the bowlers were backed up in the field, most notably by Jason Roy and Sam Billings, who combined for the most nonchalant of boundary catches to remove Carlos Brathwaite.

England suffered an early blip in their pursuit of their target of 226 with the wicket of Sam Billings. But Jason Roy’s enterprising 52 put the hosts back under pressure. However, after Roy was dismissed, a middle-order collapse saw four wickets fall in the space of 31 deliveries. Ashley Nurse returned figures of three for 43 and Devendra Bishoo two for 43, as the ball began turning sharply on this used pitch.

Root and Woakes then came together at 124 for six at the end of the 25th over and set about putting on what would be the game-winning stand. Root brought up his 20th ODI half-century from 63 balls while Woakes, who was dropped on 42, notched his second of his career off 65. Woakes drew the scores level with a six down the ground, before a single from Root confirmed the win.

"When the wickets were falling, I knew we had to stay calm,” said Root, who was given the man of the match award. “I thought Woakes played exceptionally well and he took a lot of the pressure off me. It's setting us up nicely for the end of the series and the summer."

His words were echoed by skipper Eoin Morgan: “That period where we lost wickets was concerning. But then again, having a partnership between your best batsman and your best bowler to put on 102 was outstanding. Root was magnificent and Woakes is a guy that just keeps giving within the team. He’s fantastic. He just keeps producing.”

With the third and final ODI in Barbados on Thursday, Morgan stated that now was not the time for chopping and changing, especially with a clean-sweep to be had.

“We’re going to be ruthless. We want to win all three games. We’ll be putting out our best XI.”

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