Rutherford and Motie lead West Indies rally against England / Photo: © AFP
Rutherford and Motie lead West Indies rally against England
Sherfane Rutherford marked his international return with a dashing 70 before Gudakesh Motie made a fine fifty of his own as the West Indies fought hard to avoid a one-day series whitewash against England at the Oval on Tuesday.
In a match reduced by rain to 40 overs per side, the tourists finished on 251-9, having slumped to 121-6 after veteran leg-spinner Adil Rashid (3-40) took three wickets in quick succession.
The lost overs led to a revised England target under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method for rain-affected matches, with the hosts now needing 246 to win.
When all-rounder Rutherford, in his first match of this series, was out the West Indies were 154-7 in the 28th over.
But Motie's 63 -- the left-arm spinner's highest ODI score -- and tailender Alzarri Joseph's 41 helped keep them in the game, with the pair sharing an eighth-wicket stand of 91 in 12 overs.
Already 2-0 down in a three-match series, the West Indies day got off to a bad start when traffic problems meant they arrived at the ground late, with the start of the game delayed by 30 minutes.
England avoided the traffic by arriving on bikes and made the most of winning the toss to leave their opponents 28-3 inside seven overs.
Evin Lewis, playing his first match of the series following a groin injury, fell for eight when when a hard-hit pull off Brydon Carse was caught by a diving Jamie Smith at midwicket.
And 20-1 became 27-2 when Brandon King (16) skewed a drive off Matthew Potts to Jacob Bethell at point.
Two balls later West Indies' plight worsened when skipper Shai Hope exited for a golden duck as he holed out off a Saqib Mahmood bouncer.
Rutherford, one of three changes to the West Indies side that suffered a three-wicket defeat in the second ODI in Cardiff, then showed how it should be done with a hooked six off paceman Carse.
Keacy Carty, fresh from a hundred in Cardiff, was 24 not out, with Rutherford unbeaten on 33 when rain stopped play.
- Motie fireworks -
When the match resumed, England captain Harry Brook brought on Rashid and his fellow Yorkshireman struck when Carty inside-edged a booming drive onto his stumps on 29.
Rutherford, however, completed his sixth fifty in just 11 ODI innings, reaching the landmark in 44 balls, including eight fours and a six.
Rashid, however, struck twice in successive deliveries.
He had Justin Greaves playing on to a well-flighted delivery before Roston Chase edged a leg-break to Joe Root at slip as the all-rounder fell for a second straight golden duck following his first-ball nought in Cardiff.
Motie did rather more than survive the hat-trick, pulling a short ball from Rashid for six.
Rutherford's near run-a-ball innings ended when his toe-ended pull off Carse was well caught by a diving Brook at mid-on.
But tailender Joseph's fine straight six off Will Jacks took the tourists past 200 before he holed out, with Motie bowled by Potts off the last ball of the innings, having faced 54 balls including five fours and three sixes.
T.Hancock--TNT
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