England lose first ODI to West Indies as unbeaten Shai Hope smashes hosts home

Shai Hope struck a brilliant century to steer his team to a superb win, chasing down a target of 326 with seven balls to spare, making this the West Indies’ second-highest successful run-chase of all time and their best on home soil.

Rehan Ahmed (2-40 from 10) and Harry Brook (71 from 72) put in eye-catching performances for England, but their total of 325 felt slightly below-par after a decent start. The seamers struggled to keep the chase under control, with Sam Curran particularly expensive, conceding 0-98 from his 9.5 overs – the most expensive figures ever by English man in ODIs.

England’s new-look squad arrived in the Caribbean looking to put the ignominy of their disastrous World Cup title defence behind them, and the signs of doing that were good when an opening pair of Phil Salt and Will Jacks got them off to a flier after Buttler had won the toss and opted to bat first.

Salt was particularly eye-catching in a 77-run opening partnership, smashing 45 from 28 deliveries. But both openers fell with the score on 77 to leave England with their Test openers out in the middle.

Ben Duckett will have felt hard-done-by when missing out on the World Cup squad, and set about to show how useful he could be on turning surfaces across formats, but attempted one aggressive sweep shot too many to depart for 20 from 23.

Zak Crawley’s 48 from 63 balls set a platform for England that looked set to be wasted when he and skipper Buttler (3 from 13) departed in the middle overs – the former run out and Buttler gloving behind off Gudakesh Motie.

But the excellent Brook ensured England got up to at least a competitive total with his score of 71 – England’s highest of the innings.

Liam Livingstone smashed two big sixes but failed to kick on, departing for 17 from 19, leaving England at risk of falling short of a decent total. But Curran (38 from 26), Brydon Carse (31* from 21) and Rehan Ahmed (12 from 8) let fly late on to lift England to 325 in their 50 overs.

The pattern of the match continued as the new ball raced to all parts at the start of the West Indies chase, with Alick Athanaze and Brandon King making hay early on.

The scoring rate slowed as the spinners came on and the pressure finally did for Athanaze as he departed for an impressive 66 from 65 balls, trapped in-front by Rehan.

And the turning ball almost took the game out of the West Indies’ reach, as they struggled to get both Rehan and Livingstone away. The two spinners returned combined figures of 3-90 from their 20 overs, putting huge pressure on the West Indies middle order and sending the required run rate soaring to more than ten an over at one stage.

But Hope stuck to the task at hand, and put together a crucial partnership with Shimron Hetmyer to get the team beyond 200, knowing that they had some big-hitting lower-order players still to come.

Debutant Sherfane Rutherford perhaps went slightly too hard, hitting a six, overturning a decision on DRS and being caught in the deep in an explosive three-ball cameo.

But it was Romario Shepherd who produced the all-important late flurry, slamming 48 runs from 28 balls to bring the required rate tumbling down and taking the pressure off Hope at the other end.

England needed to keep things tight late on, and Gus Atkinson did his best, finishing with 2/62 from his ten overs.

But Curran’s disappointing day came to an explosive conclusion as he was smacked for three sixes by Hope in the 49th over as the West Indies skipper raced to his century and then wrapped up the win with more than an over to spare.

The balance of the XI felt good and seven of England’s top eight got off to decent starts, but only Harry Brook really kicked on. Losing wickets so frequently meant that the innings rarely felt settled, and although 325 was a decent total, it felt some way short of what England threatened to reach when the opening pair were racing through the gears early on.

Curran’s performance with the ball is one he will want to forget in a hurry, and the seamers were more expensive across the board in the game. And while there will be plenty of criticism for individual performances, it was perhaps an error in hindsight that England didn’t utilise their sixth bowling option of Will Jacks at all during the game. Had Jacks been able to get through even a couple during the middle phase when spin was going so well, then Buttler wouldn’t have had to turn back to a struggling Curran at the death.

The West Indies captain is a superb batter in this format and was the match-winner for his team in Antigua.

His 16th ODI hundred must be one of his best, and he passed 5000 career ODI runs along the way too.

Hope averages more than 50 in ODIs, and he showed all of that class to anchor the innings through a tricky period when Rehan was tying his team in knots, before picking the moment to launch late on.

• This is only the fourth time that West Indies have successfully chase a target of 300 ore more in men’s ODIs.
• And this is the highest-ever run chase by West Indies on home soil in men’s ODIs.
• Sam Curran’s figures of 0-98 are the most expensive ever by an England man in ODIs, surpassing Steve Harmison’s 17-year-old record of 0-97 against Sri Lanka in Leeds back in 2006.