England clinch IT20 series with win in Saint Lucia

England cliched the IT20 series in West Indies with two games to spare with a three-wicket win in Saint Lucia.

Having been set 146 to win, Jos Buttler’s side slipped to 37/3 in the powerplay but Sam Curran batted fluently for his 41 from 26 balls to lead the recovery.

England were well placed when he departed but it was left to Livingstone – having been dropped twice by Nicholas Pooran on six and eight, then again by Shimron Hetmyer on 21 – to try and finish the job.

The big-hitting all-rounder took 16 from an Alzarri Joseph over to put the tourists on the brink and although he holed out with four needed, England got over the line with four balls to spare.

Victory gives them an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series, with two matches left to be played.

Saqib Mahmood and Jamie Overton had earlier taken three wickets apiece as England restricted West Indies to 145-8.

Mahmood took three wickets in the powerplay as the hosts slumped to 37/5 and despite a half-century from captain Rovman Powell, they were ultimately unable to post a winning total.

England had nervy moments in the chase but did what was required of them and head into Saturday’s fourth T20 – also in St Lucia – with the series victory secured.

England Captain Buttler said: “A real collective effort to win the series which is really pleasing. I’ve been so impressed with how we’ve set the tone in the powerplays in all three games so far.

“We’re in a really strong place as a team. We’ve got really good competition for places too, when you consider the players who aren’t here.”

West Indies Captain Powell added: “It’s a bit disappointing, we keep losing wickets in the powerplay and in clusters. We need to be our natural selves.

“We know we are stroke players and come out aggressively but that little element of being smart was missing.”