Gayle the key as West Indies plot comeback

Overview

West Indies v England5th ODI
Darren Sammy International Cricket Stadium, St Lucia
Saturday, 2 March 2019, 11:00am local, 3:00pm GMT

More than 800 runs were scored at St George's the other day, with three centuries across the two sides in a game of 100 overs. It took Jos Buttler's 150, captain Eoin Morgan's 103, and Adil Rashid's five-wicket haul to get England a crucial lead in the series, but when Chris Gayle was at the crease, all results were possible.

Gayle's six-laden 97-ball 162 not only threatened to scale down England's mountainous 418/6, but also posed another potential series loss on the visitors. Now in the lead, England will look to make the most of it, and get one back on the hosts, who beat them 2-1 in the Tests.

For that, England will have to work around Gayle. The opening batsman has two centuries and a fifty in three matches, and crossed 10,000 ODI runs in the third ODI – only the second West Indies played to do that after Brian Lara. "We needed wickets all the time, because we felt that if Gayle batted long enough they'd win the game, which is incredible when you've got 420 on the board," Buttler said after the fourth ODI.

But Gayle wasn't the only one who impressed for West Indies. Darren Bravo hit four fours and as many sixes in his 59-ball 61, and Carlos Brathwaite blasted 50 off just 36 balls. In a chase of 419, however, these efforts proved insufficient.

The credit for this must go to Rashid who dismissed all of Jason Holder, Brathwaite, Ashley Nurse, Devendra Bishoo and Oshane Thomas, the last four coming in one over – the 48th, when England need 32 runs with four wickets in hand – to choke Windies towards the end.

"Being able to spin the ball both ways, he (Rashid) is tough to get after. We juggled the bowlers well, and for Adil to bowl an over like that at that time was special," Buttler said of the leg-spinner.

So, what do the Windies need to level the series? Good bowling. They conceded more than 400 runs, with Holder and Bishoo conceding more than 10 an over, and Thomas going for over eight an over. The hosts need to put the brakes on England's manic batting to make it easy for themselves.

For England, it's about restricting Gayle and batting as well as they did in the last match. But if Andre Russell, who is in the squad but didn't play the last match, is included in the XI, England may have one more headache to neutralise.

Key Players

**Chris Gayle (Windies):**The opening batsman has made a roaring comeback to international cricket and is even having second thoughts about his decision to retire from ODIs after the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2019 in England and Wales. If he keeps batting like he has been in the series, Windies will have a good chance at drawing level.

**Jos Buttler (England):**England's six-hitting machine was matched stroke-for-stroke by Gayle, but the Englishman's last 100 runs in his 150 came off just 31 balls and proved to be the difference between the sides.

Conditions

St. Lucia last hosted an ODI in June 2017, when Afghanistan were bowled out for 135 and the Windies coasted home with four wickets in hand. It's expected to be overcast on Saturday with average temperature of 29 degrees. The expected humidity is 63 per cent.

Squads

**Windies:**Jason Holder (c), Fabian Allen, Devendra Bishoo, Darren Bravo, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, John Campbell, Ashley Nurse, Carlos Brathwaite, Nicholas Pooran, Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas, Andre Russell

**England:**Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood