Holder makes hat-trick history as West Indies beat England to secure T20 series win

Jason Holder became the first West Indies bowler to take a T20I hat-trick as Kieron Pollard’s side beat England by 17 runs to seal a 3-2 series win in Bridgetown.

On the same ground where Holder smashed 202* against England in a Test match three years ago, the 30-year-old delivered another match-winning performance by taking four consecutive wickets in a stellar 20th over.

With the tourists requiring 20 runs from the final over to win, Holder dismissed Sam Billings (41), Chris Jordan (7), Adil Rashid (0) and Saqib Mahmood (0) to claim a maiden T20I five-for.

There were jubilant scenes amongst the Kensington Oval crowd with a new era of West Indies T20 cricket beginning with a mightly impressive win against an England outfit which, in truth, had been outplayed with bat and ball.

West Indies enjoyed a healthy start to their innings, courtesy of Brandon King (34) and Kyle Mayers’ (41) opening stand of 59. A phenomenal piece of boundary-fielding from Jason Roy eventually dismissed the latter with the Surrey batsman plucking the ball mid-air and setting up Phil Salt without overstepping the rope.

England’s spinners gave their side a foothold in the game, Rashid and Liam Livingstone bowled superbly to claim two wickets apiece while stand-in skipper Moeen Ali remained economic. Although, the Worcestershire all-rounder questionably refrained from handing himself and Livingstone an extra over, which ultimately, proved costly

A combination of poor bowling and hard-hitting ensured the Windies enjoyed a prolific final five overs, moving from 105-4 to 179-4 within that period. Jordan particularly struggled, conceding 35 runs from his final two overs.

Following on from his century in the third match of the series, Rovman Powell pummeled a number of eye-catching sixes during his score of 35 from 17 balls while captain Pollard (41) utilised his experience in the best possible fashion.

Early on in their response, England suffered arguably their biggest blow when Roy (8) fell to Akeal Hosein after smart work from Nicholas Pooran behind the stumps. The dismissal of Tom Banton (16) left great pressure on the shoulders of Ali (14) and James Vince (51) to construct a significant partnership.

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In spite of the Hampshire captain driving a majestic six down the ground off just his third delivery and playing smartly throughout, Ali desperately struggled for timing prior to being caught off Holder as the required run-rate continued to rise.

Hosein, as he often has done throughout the series, became England’s worst enemy. He claimed the significant wickets of Livingstone (6), Vince and Salt (3) in quick succession, securing a career-best T20I figure of 4-30 in the process.

At 119-6 and needing 60 off 29, it would have been fair to assume the Three Lions had little chance of salvaging a win. Yet, Billings provided a late assault, including two sixes, and may have fancied his chances of repeating Carlos Braithwaite’s famous final-over antics from when the two sides met back in the 2016 T20 World Cup final.

However, Holder kept his cool and, unlike England, displayed a tremendous example of how to bowl in the death overs. With another World Cup on the horizon, Eoin Morgan will be keen to guarantee that conceding runs at the tail end of innings does not become a regular habit.

Whilst Holder’s performance could not be ignored, Pollard ensured that credit was spread across the whole of his up-and-coming squad.

“Every single person in the dressing room, well done to every single one of them. This is Jason Holder’s ground, his town, but it was total team effort from us. The guys worked hard throughout the series.”

Likewise, Moeen Ali did not refrain from praising his opposition, admitting that West Indies were deserved winners.