Powell-King reminded West Indies of old in the match to lead 2-0

 

King on his way to a six, the innings opener who remains unbeaten till the end: AFP

Both the teams were going through a rebuild in the ODIs. But when the edition is T20, then the struggle of West Indies is like to remind - this empire is with England for now, but they once had it. As it was, the Caribbean reminded the English once again last night in Grenada. West Indies won by 10 runs after scoring 176 runs on Brandon King and Rovman Powell, but lost quick wickets in the batting. After Barbados, the hosts took a 2-0 lead in the 5-match series after winning in Grenada.

Changing strikes in T20s is 'overrated', the Caribbean once regularly explained. What's the use of a single when you can hit a six! That happened in this match as well. They dot nearly half the number of balls in the innings, but put up a fightable score of 13 sixes. Brandon King's opening partnership with Kyle Meyers was broken in the last over of the powerplay, after which they lost 3 more wickets for 13 more runs.

Adil Rashid and Rehan Ahmed - "Guru" and "disciple" duo attack, West Indies under pressure. But their batting line-up so long, their power hitters so strong—England might have known that another storm could come. That's what happened in the end. 80 runs were scored between 13 and 17 overs. Rashid's 3-run over is also there, as is Sam Curren's career-highest 30-run over.

King and Powell (right) put on a 46-ball 80-run partnership: AFP

Powell scored a half-century in just 28 balls, King, who was unbeaten at the opening of the innings, scored 82 runs from 52 balls. Timal Mills took 2 wickets in the last 2 balls of the innings, but England were not at ease. Powell-King middle attack that causes a big wound! As Powell later said, 'The world knows, we Caribbean batters are power-hitters. We work on how to be a little better than everyone else in the world with this power. Because, they are much better than us in terms of taking singles.

England got off to a flying start in the last match. They scored 77 runs in 6 overs. This time the Caribbean had a plan not to let them do that. Because spin will come in handy in the middle overs on 'not so lifeless' type wickets. It happened. Despite scoring 14 runs in the last over of the Powerplay, England's score at the end of the first 6 overs was 51 for 1, the wicket again of Jos Buttler. Gurakesh Moti and Aqeel Hossain - West Indies' two spinners took 3 wickets for just 33 runs in 8 overs. Rashid took 2 wickets for just 11 runs in 4 overs, but he also paled in comparison to the performance of the Caribbean spinners.

Caribbean spinners were perfect: AFP

Despite losing 5 wickets for 108 runs in the 15th over, Karen scored a half-century and England's long batting lineup gave them hope. But Karen's 32-ball 50 in the 18th over, and Chris Woakes' 5-ball 2 in the fifth ball of the 19th over essentially put the last nail in England's coffin. Moeen Ali and Rehan scored 17 runs in the last over, but still England stopped 11 runs short of victory.

As coach Matthew Mott said at the end of the match, they were only two shots away. However, in terms of those 'shots', the Caribbean were quite ahead, against their 13 sixes, England hit 5 less. At St. George's, England was once again reminded by Powell's team—an empire that was once theirs, and which they want back.