Openers star as England blank West Indies 3-0 again

Led by Ben Duckett and Jamie Smith's blazing half-centuries, England cruised to a 37-run win in a high-scoring encounter against West Indies, in the third T20I at the Rose Bowl in Southampton, and completed yet another series whitewash.

Put in to bat, Smith and Duckett continued their good run at the top and blazed away to a 120-run stand in only 53 deliveries. Duckett took down Akeal Hosein in the third over, hammering a couple of boundaries and a six, before Smith took charge against Romario Shepherd in the next over, meting out a similar treatment to the medium pacer.

While Duckett continued the assault and brought up his half-century within the powerplay, Smith took down Shepherd again in the eighth over, tonking three sixes. He was even dropped later in that over, but that wasn't to prove too costly as Smith could add only two runs to his score before falling to Gudakesh Moite a few balls later.

Even as England's cruise mode was brought under check slight, the English batters continued to find boundaries at regular intervals. After a few relatively quiet overs, Bethell smashed Moite for three consecutive sixes in the 17th over to take England past the 200-run mark. Harry Brook added to that assault in the late overs as England posted a mammoth 248 for 3.

In response, West Indies fell wayward in the chase early on despite Evin Lewis hammering the first ball of the response for a six. Even as both the openers departed early, West Indies didn't hold back on their scoring opportunities. Shai Hope smashed Will Jacks for a couple of sixes in the first six deliveries of his stay, so did Hetmyer who tonked three in his first seven, but the English bowlers kept chipping in with regular wickets, not allowing the visitors to build any significant momentum. By the end of the eighth over, they were reduced to 74 for 4, and had fallen way behind the eight-ball.

Shai Hope and Rovman Powell looked to build some energy in the chase, but two more dismissals in quick succession, left Powell to wage a lone battle. He did his bit with an unbeaten 45-ball 79, but they never threatened the hosts through the chase. Eventually, the result meant West Indies finished the tour without a single win as they were also whitewashed in the ODIs earlier.

Brief Scores: England 248/3 in 20 overs (Ben Duckett 84, Jamie Smith 60; Sherfane Rutherford 1-20) beat West Indies 211/8 in 20 overs (Rovman Powell 79, Shai Hope 45; Luke Wood 3-31, Adil rashid 2-30) by 37 runs