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England sweep West Indies series as Smith scores maiden ODI fifty / Photo: © AFP
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England sweep West Indies series as Smith scores maiden ODI fifty
Jamie Smith struck a maiden one-day international fifty to set-up England's victorious run-chase as they completed a 3-0 series sweep of the West Indies at his Oval home ground on Tuesday.
Player-of-the-match Smith, opening in ODIs for the first time this series, launched England's pursuit of a revised target of 246 in a match reduced by rain to 40 overs per side with a quickfire 64.
Victory meant Harry Brook led England to a clean sweep in his first series as permanent white-ball captain after they had lost their seven previous matches at this level, culminating in a lacklustre exit from this year's Champions Trophy in Pakistan.
Brook was 26 not out at the finish but it was Jos Buttler, his predecessor as captain, who ended the match with an emphatic six out of the ground off fast bowler Jayden Seales that capped his unbeaten 41 off 20 balls.
England made a blistering start to their chase, scoring 93 in the first seven overs.
Smith's fifty came off 25 balls, including nine fours and two sixes.
Fellow opener Ben Duckett got in on the act with consecutive sixes off Alzarri Joseph before the paceman's next ball saw him dropped at fine leg.
An eventful seventh over started with Smith being dropped off left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie's first ball when Justin Greaves floored a relatively simple chance at short midwicket.
Smith punched the next ball through cover for four and off the third of the over went to his fifty with a superb straight six.
He followed that up with a four and a six off the next two balls before being bowled by Motie, who made a fine 63 in West Indies' total of 251-9.
Smith's exit brought in Joe Root, fresh from steering England to a three-wicket win in Cardiff on Sunday with an ODI best of 166 not out that saw the star batsman become his country's leading run-scorer in this format.
Duckett completed a 34-ball fifty including four fours and three sixes, before the left-hander fell for 58 when he flayed off-spinner Roston Chase to cover.
New batsman Brook opened his account with a classic on-driven four off Seales, only to be dropped next ball when Chase put down a two-handed chance at point.
Root could only manage 44 before he was caught top-edging a hook off Alzarri Joseph. But that still meant the player-of-the-series had scored 267 runs in three innings at an average of 133.5.
Earlier, Sherfane Rutherford top-scored for the West Indies with 70 in his first match of the series.
The tourists slumped to 121-6, with veteran England leg-spinner Adil Rashid (3-40) taking three wickets in quick succession.
But Motie and Alzarri Joseph (41) shared an eighth-wicket stand of 91 in 12 overs before Smith made the West Indies' total look inadequate.
The West Indies' day got off to a bad start when traffic problems meant they arrived at the ground late, delaying the start by 30 minutes.
England avoided the traffic by riding bikes and made the most of winning the toss to leave their opponents 28-3 inside seven overs.
West Indies will hope for a better showing when they face England in the first of a three-match Twenty20 series in Chester-le-Street on Friday.
C.Park--SG
