England win by four wickets! A thick outside edge from Carse does it! A superb run chase. That was an imposing target but England have made it look pretty small. Banton ends 30 not-out and they’ve got there with room to spare.

18th over: England 195-6 (Banton 30, Carse 2) What a fool I was thinking this might be too much for England. They’ve made it look so easy. Joseph bagged a wicket in this over, but Banton’s flick for four, along with six extras and five more runs, means it’s just two to win from two overs.

WICKET! Jacks c Chase b Joseph 7 (England 188-6) Too little, too late I fear for the Windies. But that’s another wicket for Joseph and another catch for Chase, who was diving to his right from that fluffed drive in the covers. Joseph started with a no-ball that also flew down the leg side and to the boundary. Then he bowled a wide. Which means he’s already shipped eight runs in this over.

17th over: England 180-5 (Banton 22, Jacks 7) Holder is back, loping towards the wicket with his long limbs and landing it on a tricky full length. Not that England’s batters need to go after him. A wide helps the cause, and Jacks, the new man, takes two from a cutter out to deep point. Jacks then reverse sweeps a yorker – please read that again – and gets four past short third. That was a genuinely mad shot. Down to 17 needed off 18. The last six overs have yielded 88 runs.

WICKET! Bethell c Chase b Joseph 26 (England 169-5) Bethell’s fun is over! What an innings that was. What an over this was! 6,6,1,1,6,W. Bethell launched three sixes – over square leg, down the ground with a flourishing drive, over point with a scything cut – but fell on the last ball. His attempted reverse paddle met the ball on the full but spooned straight to Chase at short third. 28 needed off the last 24 balls. Surely this is England’s to lose now.

15th over: England 149-4 (Bethell 7, Banton 19) 48 needed from 30 now. Banton has taken control of things. After Motie delivered four balls worth four runs, the England batter reversed one for four and then used all his strength to muscle a six over midwicket. It’s too close to call. Maybe England starting to edge it?

14th over: England 135-4 (Bethell 5, Banton 7) That was an eventful over. It started with a six off Brook’s bat. The Brook was brilliantly caught by Powell running to his left from long-off. Banton walked to the crease and duly slo-swept his first ball for six. Two wides came next and the whole thing ended with an appeal for lbw. England need 62 off 36. Can they do it?

WICKET! Brook c Powell b Chase 34 (England 126-4) Two wickets in two overs! Is that the decisive blow? Brook welcomed Chase to the attack by unfurling a mighty lofted drive for six down the ground. He tried to do it again but could only sky it into the deep. Powell circled underneath and clung on to another sharp grab. West Indies are edging closer.

13th over: England 120-3 (Brook 28, Bethell 5) England need 77 from 42. They’ve got two men there who can certainly do it, but another wicket could derail things. This was another top over from Hosein who closes out with 1-33 from his four. He’ll be annoyed, though, that the last ball was clubbed by Bethell for four down the ground.

WICKET! Buttler c Charles b Hosein 47 (England 112-3) Redemption for Charles! The grim-faced man allows himself a small smile as he pouches Buttler’s reverse sweep without any fuss down at deep third. Hosein deserves that. He’s bowled with great control. The crowd cheer for Charles after giving him stick previously. It’s all good natured. Lovely scenes.

12th over: England 112-2 (Buttler 47, Brook 25) Momentum swings again. That’s not a great over from Shepherd. He starts with a wide and a little later delivers a full toss that Brook spears for six over point. Then a short ball is spanked over cover for four. Charles misfields in the deep – he’s having a shocker and copping heat from the crowd – so Brook comes back for two before edging the final ball for four. That’s 20 off the over and England are back in business.

11th over: England 92-2 (Buttler 46, Brook 8) Motie has kept it tidy once again. In fact, the West Indies bowlers and fielder – Charles excluded – have done their bit putting the brakes on this chase. Just five singles off that over as the required rate starts nudging up to 12. Feels like the deep breath before the assault. One of these batters have to go big soon.

10th over: England 86-2 (Buttler 44, Brook 5) That is an outstanding over from Joseph. He saw Buttler coming out his crease so went wide to earn a dot ball. He banged it in short with pace. He bowled into the crease with pace off. And when he rushed one through, Buttler took it on. It should have been held in the deep but Charles made a proper mess of it. Just the four runs off that over but it should have ended with another batter back in the shed. That batter just happens to be a generational talent. Will that be the difference here? Time for a drink and a ponder.

Charles shells a sitter, Buttler lives on Oh how costly will that be? Joseph has bowled to a plan and Buttler swats at a lifter from a good length. It swirled in the wind but Charles at long leg really should have caught that. My word, if there’s one batter in world cricket you don’t want to drop it’s Jos Buttler.

9th over: England 83-2 (Buttler 42, Brook 4) Hosein is back, darting it in, forcing England’s batters to nudge and nurdle. Buttler has enough of that and revers sweeps over the infield for four. Hosein is annoyed by that. Not sure why. It wasn’t a bad ball. Four singles elsewhere.

This is lovely from Brian Rafferty who, like most of us, has a lot of love for West Indies cricket: Hi Daniel - I have always loved the West Indies and their approach to the game. Growing up in Lancashire I had the great Clive Lloyd as my county’s captain. Several players played in the Oldham league and I once survived an over from Joel Garner. Marshall, the Ferdinands and Curtley were lovely with my two young sons a few years later, unlike Merv Hughes who told them to F-off when they asked for his autograph. Much later my youngest son faced Jimmy Adams and didn’t get out. Nor did he score a run, but hey ho.

8th over: England 75-2 (Buttler 36, Brook 2) Success for Shepherd who has found a challenging length and also mixed up his pace. Duckett couldn’t force the issue and fell for a well-played 30. Brook collected two singles. You feel this is the stand that will make or break this chase.

WICKET! Duckett c Powell b Shepherd 30 (England 72-2) What a grab in the deep! Honestly, the fielding today has been immense and this is another stunner. Duckett didn’t get all of Shepherd’s back of a length ball as he swiped towards cow corner. But he found a gap. At least he did until the flying Powell got there and clung on with a dive and a tumble. Fantastic effort and a dangerous and developing partnership comes to an end.

7th over: England 67-1 (Duckett 28, Buttler 34) Motie is into the attack. Buttler stoops low to reverse paddle one over the infield, but he times it so well that it goes for six. That is nuts! Motie is tidy, though, and mixes his pace up to keep the other five balls to just three singles.

6th over: England 58-1 (Duckett 27, Buttler 26) Joseph and his pace enters stage left. Buttler welcomes him by clipping him up and over the leg side for four. That was a sweet pick up. Joseph then bangs in a vicious bumper but when he pitches it up, Buttler spanks him down the ground. A slightly wider one is sliced high towards backward point but lands between three fielders. That’s the end of the powerplay. England are up with the required rate but it’s pretty even if you ask me.

“It’s good to see England battling properly,” says John Starbuck “West Indies doing a good job is essential for world cricket and I hope they win this one, if only to boost their confidence, and not to annoy the statisticians. I hope we can see a sensible solution to allow the Windies to enter the cricket Olympics next year, even if they have to pretend to be all Barbadians. Enter the white lie solution. Complicated, eh?”

5th over: England 47-1 (Duckett 27, Buttler 15) Shepherd’s into the attack. Duckett escapes a mix-up in the middle. A direct hit from backward point would have hid him on his way. That would have been a sad end to what is fast becoming a fine knock. A slashing drive off the front four adds four through the covers and he closes the set with a scoop over the ‘keeper that clears the rope for six.

4th over: England 33-1 (Duckett 16, Buttler 12) Buttler uses his feet to holder, charging out his crease and clobbering a six over wide mid-on. He gets lucky from his next ball as an edge from an attempted scoop misses his stumps and bounces down for four. Duckett swats off the back foot but it drops just short of the fielder at short midwicket.

3rd over: England 21-1 (Duckett 15, Buttler 1) Duckett is combatting Hosein with reverse sweeps/switch hits. The first is drilled into a big gap past past for four. Hope responds by plugging that gap but Duckett goes agaib. The second switch is hit hard and the diving Lewis got a stiff hand to it. Would have been a helluva catch. Instead it trickled away for four.

2nd over: England 11-1 (Duckett 6, Buttler 0) Excellent start from Holder. The wicket of Smith – caught at mid-off on the slog – was supplemented by a miserly that cost just four runs. There was an lbw appeal against Buttler’s first ball, but it was sliding down leg.

WICKET! Smith c Motie b Holder 4 (England 9-1) Second time unlucky for Smith! Smith hoisted Holder’s first ball high and just long enough to evade Motie at mid-off. But the second ball landed safely in the fielder’s fingers. Another attempt to smash a lofted drive down the ground sees Smith fall early. Great fielding from Motie. Catching over the shoulder while running away from the wicket is never easy.

1st over: England 7-0 (Smith 2, Duckett 5) Tidy start from Hosein, who only arrived in the country this morning. He’s followed the lead from the English spinners and is zipping his finger spinners onto a tricky length, erring on the fuller side. Ducket tries a revers sweep and mistimes it. he then brings out a conventional sweep and nails it, picking up for fine of deep square.

Right then. Big job for the England batters. The Windies are out there and have a little spring in their step. Holder shares a joke with Smith who is practicing some flicks off his pads. Hosein, fresh from his visa troubles, has the ball in his hand and will kick things off with some spin.

After 16 overs West Indies had 121 runs on the board. They biffed 75 from the final 24 balls. An almighty display of power hitting. I was so occupied with what I was seeing that I missed Colum Fordham’s message around the time Powell was dismissed in the 18th over: “The West Indies have been becalmed by excellent England bowling in the middle overs but the Rovman Powellplay has put them back in with a shout.

”Entertaining match in prospect. Windies will have to go beserk in the final two to set a competitive total.” He’s right, England were excellent in the middle overs. But those lusty blows probably have the Windies with their noses in front.

West Indies post 196-6 Chase hits his first ball for six! Wow, I thought West Indies would fall short of a competitive score but the last three overs have been immense! This final set, bowled by Wood went for 16. It started with Holder slamming a four down the ground and then edging another four to deep third. The run-out of Shepherd brought Chase on strike and the Test skipper drilled his one and only ball for half a dozen over long-off. Holder ends not-out on 29 and it’s game on! England will have to bat well to haul this in.

WICKET! Shepherd run-out Buttler 19 (West Indies 190-5) Swift stuff from Buttler gets rid of Shepherd! It was a slower ball that beat Holder’s swishing bat so Shepherd ran immediately. Buttler gathered, whipped off a glove and shied at the stumps. Shepherd was nowhere near safety so new man, Chase will have one ball to add to West Indies’ score.

19th over: West Indies 180-5 (Shepherd 18, Holder 20) 31 off the over! Five sixes! Rashid was absolutely demolished there! Holder kicked off with three consecutive maximums. He tried a fourth but fluffed it. But that wasn’t the end of Rashid’s pain. Shepherd smoked two in a row himself. I did say that the batters would try and hit every ball for six. I didn’t think they’d actually do it!

18th over: West Indies 149-5 (Shepherd 6, Holder 1) Carse started with 0-30 from his first two overs but ends with 1-42 from four. A great comeback from the seamer. Powell was visibly annoyed with himself as he trudged off the pitch, but that was a handy cameo. I reckon the batters are going to try hit every ball for six from hear on. I can’t see anything short of 170 being enough.

WICKET! Powell c Wood b Carse 34 (West Indies 148-5) Wood is having a day out! Powell had just nailed a six off Carse – back into the attack – over midwicket but he couldn’t beat the diving Wood at deep extra cover. Spliced off the bat, it looked to have the distance. But Wood, flying across the ground, launched himself at the ball and held on with both hands. Excellent fielding and a big wicket just as Powell was climbing through the gears.

Source: The Guardian