Fifth ODI: West Indies 288-6 in 50 overs England 294-1 (Bairstow 141*, Root 46*) in 38 overs.
Jason Roy continued to make the most of his unexpected second chance as a one-day international opening batsman as England romped to a fourth victory in the series against West Indies at the Rose Bow and ended a difficult week – and long season – on a high.
The Surrey batsman, who seemed likely to face a long spell in the wilderness as understudy to Alex Hales and Jonny Bairstow, having been displaced by the latter towards the end of the Champions Trophy, added another fifty to the one he scored on Wednesday at the Oval and was desperately unlucky not to turn that into a fourth 50-over hundred.
It has taken the suspension of Hales as investigations into the Ben Stokes incident continue, to reopen the door to the 27-year-old and he has looked determined not to let the opportunity get away from him.
He hit 96 from 70 balls with 11 fours and a six, but with just one further blow required to reach his century, he hit across a ball that appeared to wobble slightly in the air from Miguel Cummins, and was trapped in front on the back pad. By that point, England, chasing 289, were well on the way to victory with 156 from just 21.2 overs.
Joe Root joined Bairstow, who hit his first ODI hundred in the opening match of this series, and with the pair running brilliantly between the wickets, the England Test wicketkeeper added a confident second to his collection, from 90 balls.
By the time England passed the West Indies score he had reached 141 from 114 balls with 17 fours. With 12 overs still in the locker, Root put the tourists out of their agony with a huge straight six.
Earlier, West Indies needed Ashley Nurse and Sunil Ambris to boost their total to 288 for six, the third time in recent Rose Ball ODIs that that exact total had been recorded. Nurse smashed 31 from 12 balls with three fours and two sixes and Ambris, on debut, 38 from 27 balls.
Their innings had stalled after an opening cameo from Chris Gayle, which brought him 40 from 27 balls. Gayle batted like some sort of batting predator, at first sizing up and circling his prey – in this case Jake Ball – before pawing the ground and springing to make the kill.
Having scored just three from his first 17 balls he slammed 37 off his next ten, five of them sixes off the unfortunate Ball, who never really recovered from the onslaught, leaking 94 runs in his ten overs. At least he hady Shai Hope, who made a relatively pedestrian 72, in the wickets column
It took the nerveless skills of Tom Curran to end Gayle’s rampage. The Surrey seamer, so good at the death in the shorter forms for his county, produced a wonderful delivery from that repertoire, a slower ball from the back of his hand. Gayle had backed away in anticipation of another huge blast over the covers, but found himself horribly off balance and could only loop up a catch, which was brilliantly taken over his shoulder by Liam Plunkett running back from mid-off.
From here, West Indies struggled to push on – their batsmen failing at one point to hit a boundary in 126 balls as they were pinned down by spinners Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid. Between them the pair went for just 76 in their 20 overs and picked up the wickets of Marlon Samuels and Jason Mohammed, captaining in the absence of Jason Holder, respectively. Shai Hope hit just four fours and a six in a 95-ball innings, while the experienced Samuels took 60 balls over his 32.
