England draw level in Barbados

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):

Career-best cameos from Romario Shepherd and Akeal Hosein caused tremors for England late on but West Indies failed to repeat their heroics of 24 hours earlier, and slipped to an agonising one-run defeat in the second Twenty20 (T20) International yesterday.

Asked to chase 172 at Kensington Oval, West Indies were wobbling on 65 for seven in the 12th over before Shepherd and Hosein slammed 44 not out apiece in a record 72-run, ninth-wicket stand, as the hosts fell just short of their target.

Shepherd started the revival, bludgeoning a four and five sixes in a 28-ball knock as he put on 33 for the eighth wicket with Fabian Allen (12).

By the time Hosein arrived in the 16th over, West Indies were facing a required run rate of nearly 15 runs per over and seemingly out of contention, but he blasted three fours and four sixes in a 16-ball stunner, the home side plundering 59 runs from the last three overs.

With 30 runs needed from the last over, the left-hander unfurled an exhibition of top class hitting, lashing two fours and three sixes - the latter coming from the last three deliveries in a tense over sent down by a rattled Saqib Mahmood.

"We knew what the guys could do at the back end - these guys can hit the ball a long way," captain Kieron Pollard said.

"And the faith and confidence that Akeal has, he has been working on his batting [and] it's tremendous.

"But spare a word for Shepherd as well. The way that he batted. He did it in the series before and he's showing that he wanted to put up his hand and take responsibility."

England skipper Eoin Morgan conceded his bowlers lost the plot in the late stages, and failed to execute their lengths.

"Ultimately, we need to find better ways of going about it. Our execution was nowhere near as good as we would like. We're just getting it wrong," he lamented.

SCOREBOARD

ENGLAND

J Roy c Pollard b Shepherd 45

T Banton c & b Allen 25

J Vince b Allen 4

Moeen Ali c Cottrell b Pollard 31

+S Billings c Cottrell b Hosein 5

*E Morgan c King b Holder 13

C Jordan c Holder b Cottrell 27

L Dawson c Allen b Holder 4

A Rashid not out 2

Saqib Mahmood not out 7

Extras (w8) 8

TOTAL (8 wkts, 20 overs) 171

Did not bat: R Topley

Fall of wickets: 1-36 (Banton), 2-40 (Vince), 3-101 (Roy), 4-114 (Moeen), 5-116 (Billings), 6-147 (Morgan), 7-162 (Jordan), 8-164 (Dawson)

Bowling: Cottrell 3-0-23-1 (w1), Holder 4-0-25-2 (w2), Hosein 3-0-15-1, Allen 4-0-50-2, Pollard 4-0-32-1 (w4), Shepherd 2-0-16-1 (w1).

WEST INDIES

B King lbw b Topley 0

+S Hope run out 2

N Pooran c Vince b Ali 24

D Bravo lbw b Rashid 23

*K Pollard lbw b Rashid 1

J Holder c & b Ali 1

R Shepherd not out 44

O Smith c Vince b Ali 7

F Allen c Banton b Jordan 12

A Hosein not out 44

Extras (b4, lb3, w5) 12

TOTAL (8 wkts, 20 overs) 170

Did not bat: S Cottrell

Fall of wickets: 1-3 (King), 2-6 (Hope), 3-47 (Pooran), 4-50 (Pollard), 5-55 (Bravo), 6-57 (Holder), 7-65 (Smith), 8-98 (Allen)

Bowling: Topley 4-0-18-1 (w1), Saqib 4-0-45-0 (w2), Jordan 3-0-39-1 (w1), Rashid 4-1-24-2, Moeen 4-0-24-3, Dawson 1-0-13-0.

Result: England won by one run.

Series: Five-match series level 1-1.

Man-of-the-Match: Moeen Ali.

Toss: West Indies.

Umpires: Nigel Duguid, Joel Wilson; TV - Gregory Brathwaite.