England beat WI by 5 wickets

BBC-A spectacular maiden one-day international century from stand-in captain Liam Livingstone helped England defeat West Indies by five wickets and take the three-match series to a decider.

Chasing a formidable 329 in Antigua, Livingstone’s 124 from 85 balls saw the tourists home with 15 balls to spare.

Phil Salt and Jacob Bethell had hit half-centuries for England before the captain and Sam Curran’s resilient fifth-wicket partnership left England needing 100 runs from the last 10 overs.

Livingstone brought up his fifty in 60 balls before accelerating to bring up three figures just 17 balls later.

Earlier, Windies captain Shai Hope had scored 117 from 127 balls to help the hosts rebuild after losing both openers early.

Hope was ably supported by Keacy Carty (71) and Sherfane Rutherford (54).

It means the series will be decided in the third and final ODI in Barbados on Wednesday.

Questions would have been asked of Livingstone, who is deputising for the injured white-ball captain Jos Buttler, if England had lost a second game in a row under his captaincy.

The stand-in skipper had used nine bowlers in the first innings without managing to stem the flow of runs and, perhaps surprisingly, failed to utilise the full 10 overs from his most experienced fast bowler, Jofra Archer.

But he more than made up for it with the bat as his unbeaten 124 from 85 balls guided England to an improbable win.

Livingstone joined Bethell in the middle with his side 107-3 in the 21st over. When his young batting partner departed for 55, the Lancashire all-rounder took full control.

He brought up his half-century in 60 balls before moving up a gear, hitting three consecutive sixes off Gudakesh Motie soon after passing 50.

Livingstone only need 17 balls more to get his maiden ODI century, with Curran fitting nicely into his slipstream with a run-a-ball 52.

After Curran departed in the 46th over, the 31-year-old hit debutant Shamar Joseph for three sixes and a four in the following over to ease any nerves and all-but seal the win and boost a young side which had lost 12 of their previous 18 matches in this format.

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