Barnstorming Banton produces fireworks to clinch series victory

The drought continues for the West Indies men. A total of 196 looked enough to end a sequence of nine consecutive away defeats against England, a run that began with the bio-bubble Test series of 2020.

- Taha Hashim

With the hosts requiring 71 off 39 balls, Jos Buttler and Harry Brook gone, the game was heading to the visitors. Then came Tom Banton, a first-ball six and a change of tune, the final summary a four-wicket England win to secure an unassailable 2-0 lead in the T20 international series.

Banton is usually a top-order man in this format but he was dominant in the middle alongside Jacob Bethell as the pair put on 43 off just 15. The former pummelled Gudakesh Motie's left-arm spin while Bethell struck Alzarri Joseph for three monstrous sixes, one finding the roof of the apartments that overlook Bristol's County Ground.

The left-hander's failed ramp on 26 mattered little as Banton remained, his own audacity including a reverse-flick for four off Jason Holder. He finished on 30 off 11, steel to go with the tricks, nine balls to spare. For Brook it is five wins out of five as permanent captain, some joy found after England's miserable tours of India and Pakistan at the start of the year. "Hopefully we're entertaining a lot of people and people start watching us more again," he said.