Forde’s dream debut, Shepherd’s hitting help West Indies clinch a 2-1 series win over England #Fordes #dream #debut #Shepherds #hitting #West #Indies #clinch #series #win #England

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (AP) — Keacy Carty’s dogged half century and Romario Shepherd’s 41 from 28 balls helped the West Indies to a four wicket win over England with 14 balls remaining in the third one-day international Saturday and to a 2-1 win the three-match series.

Seam bowler Matthew Forde also made a major all-round contribution with 3-29 and 13 not out and was named player of the match on his ODI debut.

England’s one-day international woes continued after its poor World Cup performance as it was restricted to 206-9 in an innings shortened by rain to 43 overs, then to 40 overs. The toss was delayed almost two hours by light rain which returned in the 33rd over when England was 161-7.

Rain also delayed the start of the West Indies innings and when it began the innings had been reduced by six overs to 34 overs and the target by only 18 runs to 188.

Alick Athanaze, who made 45 from 51 balls, and Carty set a foundation for the run chase with a partnership of 76 for the second wicket.

But the West Indies lost regular wickets including captain Shai Hope, who was out for 15 after making 109 and 68 in the first two matches of the series. The home team had slipped to 122-5 with just over 10 overs remaining.

Carty’s second ODI half century from 58 balls helped steady the West Indies, while Will Jacks brought England strongly back into the match with career-best figures of 3-22 from seven overs.

Jacks’ testing off-breaks stalled the West Indies and they needed 36 runs from the last five overs with four wickets in hand.

Shepherd turned the match in the home team’s favor when he struck two sixes and a four among 24 runs from the 31st over bowled by Gus Atkinson. That put the West Indies in sight of victory and they eased to their winning total in the 32nd over which included five wides from Liam Livingstone.

Shepherd finished the chase with his third boundary and shared an unbroken 69-run partnership with Forde who finished 13 not out.

“For me coming in here and being part of a winning series was a dream come true,” Forde said. “I’m 21 and I’m living my dream.

“Batting with (Shepherd) was just about turning over the strike and getting him back on strike and supporting him. I played that supportive role and thankfully we could get a victory.”

Earlier, Forde took the new ball on debut and rocked England with wickets in each of his first two overs after the West Indies had won the toss and elected to bowl first.

He dismissed Phil Salt (4) with the last ball of his first over and then Zak Crawley for a duck with the fourth ball of his second over as England slipped to 8-2 early.

The 21-year-old Barbados right-armer bowled at just above medium pace but still found some difficult bounce on a dryish pitch at Kensington Oval. He came in as a replacement for Oshane Thomas in the only change to the West Indies team which won the first match of the series by four wickets and lost the second by six wickets.

Forde also removed Will Jacks (17) who was England’s top-scorer in the second match at Antigua and whose departure left England 45-3 in the ninth over.

England slumped to 49-5 when captain Jos Buttler fell for a first ball duck, caught by Gundakesh Motie at fine leg from the bowling of Alzarri Joseph, and Harry Brook (1) was brilliantly run out by Joseph.

Duckett provided the backbone of the innings with 71, reaching his half century from 56 balls and sharing an 88-run partnership for the sixth wicket with Liam Livingstone (45).

Joseph took a toll on the middle and lower order, finishing with 3-61, and Shepherd removed Duckett and took 2-50. But England finished strongly after the second rain break and Gus Atkinson and Matthew Potts put on an unbeaten 35 for the last wicket from 29 balls.

“I think we were a few short with the bat,” England captain Jos Buttler said. “I think that period where we were 40-2 and 50-5 really set us back.

“A good partnership between Duckett and Livingstone got us up to a score and we fought hard with the ball but just not quite enough.”