LONDON – England beat West Indies by six runs under the Duckworth-Lewis method to win the rain-affected fourth one-day international at The Oval on Wednesday.
Victory saw England take an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the five-match series, with just Friday’s finale in Southampton to come.
England, set 357 to win after West Indies made 356/5, were 258/5 when rain stopped play 35.1 overs.
That left them just ahead of where they needed to be on D/L to win at that stage.
Moeen Ali, who made a blistering 102 in England’s win in the fourth ODI in Bristol on Sunday, helped get England above the required run-rate with a dashing 48 not out.
Together with Jos Buttler (43 not out), he put on an unbroken 77 in eight overs after recalled opener Jason Roy made 84 on his Surrey home ground.
Defeat was cruel on the West Indies, for whom Evin Lewis (176, retired hurt) and Alzarri Joseph (5/56) produced ODI-best performances.
Lewis made a stunning 176 – having faced 130 balls, including 17 fours and seven sixes – before having to retire hurt in bizarre fashion.
Lewis’ highest ODI score, surpassing his previous hundred at this level of 148 against Sri Lanka in Bulawayo in November last year, was the cornerstone of the tourists’ 356/5.
Having been dropped on 122, Lewis was on course for a double century until the 47th over, when he deflected a delivery from paceman Jake Ball into his ankle and collapsed to the turf.
Writhing in agony, the 25-year-old Trinidad left-handed opener required prolonged on-field treatment before being wheeled off on a stretcher to sympathetic applause from a capacity crowd.
He was later taken to hospital for an X-ray.