England v West Indies: third men’s T20 cricket international - live

3m ago 15.29 EDT Righto, here come West Indies for the chase – Johnson Charles and Evin Lewis stride out to the middle. The Left arm of Luke Wood is going to get things underway with the ball for England. Play! Share

15m ago 15.17 EDT England score 248-3! Brook baseball flays a short ball from Holder down the ground for SIX. Astonishing batting. Some of the strokes today have pushed the envelope and beaten the boundaries. They score their second highest T20I total but can’t quite make 25o as Jason Holder used all his wiles to get out of the last over for the cost of twelve runs. West Indies will need all their big guns to even get near to this nosebleed inducing total. The pitch is a belter, don’t go anywhere. (I’m off for a six minute power nap) 20th over: England 248-3 (Brook 35, Bethell 36) Share

19m ago 15.12 EDT 19th over: England 236-3 (Brook 25, Bethell 35) Brook misses out on two bouncers from Joseph but nails the third for SIX with what I can only describe as a ‘scoopy pull’. A dabbed single to third brings Bethell on strike. Kablammo! Bethell spanks over mid on for SIX with an absolute minimum of fuss. One over to go, England eyeing 250 and beyond. Share

26m ago 15.05 EDT 18th over: England 221-3 (Brook 18, Bethell 28) Bethell flays Holder into the off side but the ball lands safe as Sherfane Rutherford pulls up running in for the catch. It looks like he has tweaked a hamstring and departs with the team medic. Bethell then somehow manages to reverse-paddle a well executed yorker for four! How did he even do that? Share Updated at 15.07 EDT

34m ago 14.58 EDT 17th over: England 213-3 (Brook 17, Bethell 21) Motie into his last over, he’s done well to pick up 1-24 from his three overs so far. Shot! Bethell clears the square boundary by some distance as he swipes for SIX! Motie goes full and Bethell swats down the ground for SIX more! You guessed it… SIX more to Bethell as he uses the depth in his crease and flashes with incredibly fast hands! A single down the ground sees Bethell keep strike for the next. His captain won’t mind one bit. Share Updated at 15.08 EDT

38m ago 14.54 EDT 16th over: England 191-3 (Brook 16, Bethell 1) Brook falls off his feet scooping Alzarri Joseph but gets enough of it to pick up four. Gah! Joseph spears down five wides that soar past the gloves of Shai Hope flinging himself desperately down the leg side. Joseph responds with a dot, just England’s 18th of the innings. And another, a bouncer flies past Brook’s snout and into Hope’s gloves at head height. Share

43m ago 14.48 EDT 15th over: England 178-3 (Brook 7, Bethell 0) Jacob Bethell replaces Duckett. Stand by your beds. Share Updated at 14.53 EDT

45m ago 14.47 EDT WICKET! Duckett b Hosein 84 (England 178-3) Duckett slaps a low full toss back through the hands of Akeal Hosein and away for four but the bowler get his man in the end, bowling him round his legs and knocking back leg stump. Brilliant innings from Duckett, he has given England a hefty platform. View image in fullscreen Ben Duckett is out for a magnificent 84. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA Share Updated at 15.04 EDT

49m ago 14.43 EDT 14th over: England 173-2 (Duckett 81, Brook 7) Fourteen runs off Rutherford’s second over, two wides, two singles and two boundaries, one each to Duckett and Brook. Share Updated at 14.48 EDT

1h ago 14.36 EDT 13th over: England 159-2 (Duckett 74, Brook 2) West Indies get some control back, just five runs off Motie’s latest. And breathe. Share Updated at 14.48 EDT

1h ago 14.35 EDT 12th over: England 154-2 (Duckett 71, Brook 0) Harry Brook arrives in the middle to join Duckett. England won’t take their foot off the accelerator. Share

1h ago 14.33 EDT WICKET! Jos Buttler c Hetmyer b Rutherford 22 (England 154-2) Sherfane Rutherford to bowl some seam up medium pace dobbers. Shai Hope mixing it up best he can. It’s wide stuff from the bowler but the plan works in the end! Buttler tries to clatter into the deep but holes out. Relief for West Indies! View image in fullscreen Shimron Hetmyer takes a catch to dismiss Jos Buttler. Photograph: Andy Kearns/Getty Images Share Updated at 14.36 EDT

1h ago 14.27 EDT 11th over: England 148-1 (Duckett 68, Buttler 20) Hosein goes for a couple of singles before a shorter ball gives Duckett enough room to slap for four into the deep at midwicket. A single brings Buttler on strike, he dances down and hits clean and true wide of mid on for SIX. This is scintillating stuff from England. Share

1h ago 14.23 EDT 10th over: England 135-1 (Duckett 62, Buttler 13) Alzarri Joseph returns, he’s full and wide or short and at the body. Good recovery in the first half of the over. Can he get out of it without too much damage? Nope. Buttler flicks off his pads for SIX behind square. That ball was timed to within an inch of its life. What even was that? Buttler plays some sort of pirouetting scoop to get four over the wicketkeeper. It’s a no look mid-air scoop shot. Simple. England take drinks at 135-1 – that’s their highest ten over total in T20Is. Here’s the list we’re all interested in, particularly you, Matthew Doherty. Share

1h ago 14.15 EDT 9th over: England 121-1 (Duckett 60, Buttler 1) ‘Only me!’ Jos Buttler strolls out with purpose with England 120-1 in the ninth over. Gulp. He gets off the mark with a single down the ground and will keep strike. Share

1h ago 14.13 EDT WICKET! Jamie Smith c Hetmyer b Motie 60 (England 120-1) The run rate is just under 14 an over. Motie quietens things down and then gets Smith! Caught in the deep by the aforementioned Hetmyer. My days, West Indies needed that. View image in fullscreen Shimron Hetmyer takes a catch to dismiss Jamie Smith. Photograph: Andy Kearns/Getty Images Share Updated at 14.24 EDT

1h ago 14.10 EDT 8th over: England 113-0 (Duckett 60, Smith 53) Jamie Smith channels his inner Babe Ruth and baseball swats Romario Shepherd for SIX over midwicket! The bowler finds his yorker next ball for a dot but Smith pounces on length and deposits for SIX once more down the ground. That’s a first T20I fifty for Smith, brought up in some style. SIX MORE! Oh em gee. That is massive! Smith goes biiiiiig over extra cover for SIX more, the third of the over. Salt, meet Wound. Smith is then shelled by Hetmyer off the final ball, lacerating through the covers, the ball bursts through the fielders and hands and plops onto the turf. Share

1h ago 14.03 EDT 7th over: England 92-0 (Duckett 52, Smith 40) Smith trots down and launches the spin of Gudakesh Motie for SIX over the leg side. It is a calmer though, nine runs off it. Share

1h ago 14.02 EDT 6th over: England 86-0 (Duckett 50, Smith 33) Holder returns and Smith drives handsomely for four. A single down the ground brings a moment of respite but it is only a moment as Duckett carves for four next ball. Holder spears in a decent yorker for a lesser spotted dot ball. Duckett gives himself room by backing into the leg-side and upper cuts for four. Duckett keeps strike with a single off the last ball and it takes him to Fifty off just 20 balls. He’s hit ten fours! A blistering powerplay from England. Will the end of the fielding restrictions bring some respite for West Indies? I think you and I both know the answer to that particular question. View image in fullscreen Ben Duckett celebrates his half century. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA Share Updated at 14.16 EDT

2h ago 13.56 EDT 5th over: England 69-0 (Duckett 41, Smith 28) The rampage continues from England’s opening pair. Duckett slaps Alzarri Joseph for a flat SIX on the pull and then cover drives for four more. Cheeky! Duckett reverse-scoops over the keeper for another boundary. Carnage! Joseph ducks for cover as Duckett slaps a length ball back past him and it nearly cleans the bowler up. Wise move Alzarri, not the face – you’ve got a corporate for Allied Dunbar. Another 18 runs plundered for England. Share

2h ago 13.51 EDT 4th over: England 51-0 (Duckett 23, Smith 28) Romario Shepherd replaces Holder. His first ball is bludgeoned by Smith down the ground but Holder swoops down and plucks it off the turf. Not even Holder’s lissom limbs can reach the next couple of shots from Jamie Smith – a pull into the leg side for four and a lofted SIX down the ground. Shepherd feeling the pressure, he takes the pace off and is still clubbed for four by Smith. This pitch looks a belter and is playing like the M1. Eighteen runs off the over and fifty up for England in four overs. Share

2h ago 13.44 EDT 3rd over: England 33-0 (Duckett 22, Smith 11) A drag down from Hosein is slapped to the square boundary by Duckett. Don’t bowl there, son. Duckett plinks down the ground for a couple, losing his shape slightly as he tries to go down the ground. SIXAH! The pint sized opener smears a big one on the sweep behind square. Four more down the ground all along the baize. Shai Hope can’t plug the gaps and Duckett is manipulating the field with aplomb. Seventeen runs off the over. View image in fullscreen Ben Duckett wallops a six into the deep. Photograph: Andy Kearns/Getty Images Share Updated at 13.47 EDT

2h ago 13.40 EDT 2nd over: England 15-0 (Duckett 6, Smith 9) Jason Holder with the second over, long limbs chugging into the crease and decent bounce off the custard cream coloured surface. Shot! Smith drives on the up over mid-on with that deliciously clean swing of the blade. Sizeable outfield in at the Utilita (as no one calls it) boundaries harder to find than at postage stamp sized Bristol. Share

2h ago 13.37 EDT 1st over: England 7-0 (Duckett 5, Smith 2) Akeal Hosein starts for West Indies. His jet lag should be vanquished by now, he landed on the morning of the last game. Starts with a quiet five balls for just three runs but Duckett gets down and pings the last ball on the reverse-sweep for four. Share Updated at 13.41 EDT

2h ago 13.29 EDT Here come the players, Jamie Smith and Ben Duckett to open up for England. Let’s play! Share

2h ago 13.25 EDT We’ll be underway in less than ten minutes. Just enough time to dig into Don McRae’s wide reaching interview with Pat Cummins on the eve of the WTC Final. Some topics were still off-limits though… But the ball-tampering saga remains an awkward topic. He listens quietly while I tell him about my 2021 interview with Cameron Bancroft who, as a callow opening batter trying to find his way in Test cricket, followed instructions to use sandpaper to rough up the ball. His captain, Steve Smith, David Warner and Bancroft were banned and the batter, when pressed on whether any of the bowlers had known of the plan, told me that “it’s probably self-explanatory”. Cummins took seven wickets in that Test, which Australia lost heavily, and I ask if he really had no idea what was being done to the ball. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he says bluntly.” Pat Cummins: ‘We want to play hard and fair, and I think we’ve got it right’ Read more Share Updated at 13.25 EDT

2h ago 13.22 EDT England bat very deep and will be looking to get a big total on the board, especially with their opponents swapping out a bowler in Roston Chase. The visitors will need early wickets otherwise it could be a long couple of hours of chasing and fetching leather as the sun goes down in Southampton. Share

2h ago 13.17 EDT ICYMI - West Indies’ leading run scorer and most capped T20I player announced his retirement from international cricket today at the age of just 29. He’s a huge name to turn his back on playing for his country and they’ll miss his runs and experience with a T20I world cup looming. The reasons and ramifications will be much discussed. Share

2h ago 13.13 EDT Teams – England are unchanged. West Indies bring in Shimron Hetmyer for Roston Chase. England: Jamie Smith, Ben Duckett, Jos Buttler (wk), Harry Brook (capt), Tom Banton, Jacob Bethell, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Brydon Carse, Adil Rashid, Matthew Potts West Indies: Johnson Charles, Evin Lewis, Shai Hope (c & wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Gudakesh Motie, Alzarri Joseph Share

2h ago 13.11 EDT West Indies win the toss and choose to bowl Shai Hope calls the coin correctly and inserts England. A lovely summer’s evening down in Hampshire and this time it is West Indies who fancy a chase. “We want to start nailing teams down into the ground” says an uncompromising Harry Brook after the toss. I take it all back, that doesn’t sound particularly lyrical. Certainly not the stuff of a poetical love song. Share

Click here to read article