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England will be out to complete a clean sweep in their ODI series against the West Indies when the sides head to Barbados for the third match.
The tourists have been dominant in this series and are yet to put a foot wrong as their final preparations for the Champions Trophy on home soil heat up.
Maybe the most positive sign for England across the two matches played so far is the way in which runs have been shared around – almost everyone has been involved in the scoring and while the West Indies haven’t been completely blown off the ground, they have been consistently the team trailing in the match and looking less comfortable.
For them to get some respectability in a home series and not be swept, they are going to need a large turn around for the final match, and that starts with their own run scoring – something they haven’t done enough of yet to put pressure on England’s batting order which, at times over the last 12 months has proven to be vulnerable.
Eoin Morgan was the man in the first match as he whacked a century. That came on the back of a Sam Billings half century and with Ben Stokes crunching 55 at the back-end of the innings, the tourists ended with 296 on the board.
That was always going to be too many for the WIndies to chase as they slumped to 3 for 39. Jason Mohammed and Jonathan Carter gave them a flicker of hope, but Chris Woakes and Liam Plunkett both took four wickets as they fell 45 runs short.
The second match of the series, played on a slower and lower pitch was closer, but England were always in control. The difference for the hosts was not being able to bat out their 50 overs as they crashed to be all out for 225, Mohammad again top scoring, this time with 50.
A regular flow of wickets, led by Liam Plunkett who picked up another three saw them struggle to post a competitive total, and their bowling came up well short of the mark as Joe Root hit 90 to lead the tourists to the series-clinching victory.
Having Shannon Gabriel only bowl three overs certainly didn’t help the West Indies cause, but then again nor did allowing Chris Woakes to score 68.
Prediction
England have simply found a way to win during the series and will continue to do so here. Dead rubbers have a way of producing strange results, but this won’t be one of them.
England to wrap it up.