Chris Jordan steers England to victory on ‘home’ ground

Bridgetown, Barbados: England resisted a late West Indies surge and held on for a consolation five-run victory in the third and final Twenty20 international at Kensington Oval on Thursday.

Despite surrendering the series to the home side 2-1, the match was a personal triumph for Chris Jordan.

The Barbados-born all-rounder smashed Dwayne Bravo for four sixes off the final over of the England innings to lift his team to 165 for six after they had lost six wickets for 40 runs following an opening stand of 98 between Michael Lumb (63) and Alex Hales (38).

He then claimed three for 39 and took an outstanding catch on the boundary to dismiss Bravo, a magnificent effort that was enough to earn him the man-of-the-match award in very familiar surroundings as West Indies were restricted to 160 for seven.

“I’m just happy to have made the most of the opportunity,” said Jordan. “I just wanted to get into the game, and did that with the bat, then it rolled over into my bowling.”

“This was a tremendous result and Chris’ performance shows that we have some strength in depth going into the World Cup,” said England stand-in captain Eoin Morgan. “Defeating a good West Indies like this gives us a lot of confidence moving forward.”