West Indies got over the line in a nervy chase to beat England by four wickets on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method in a rain-shortened third one-day international in Barbados.
When play began two hours later than scheduled, seamer Matthew Forde quickly took three wickets on his international debut as England collapsed to 49-5. Ben Duckett made 71 to help England recover and post 206-9 from 40 overs after another rain delay.
A further downpour left West Indies with a revised target of 188 from 34 overs and they looked on course for a comfortable victory thanks to a composed half-century from Keacy Carty. However, England hit back to set up a tense finale with Will Jacks taking 3-22 as the spinners did the damage.
The game looked to be going down to the wire but one expensive over from the previously impressive Gus Atkinson swung the game decisively in West Indies' favour and Romario Shepherd, who finished unbeaten on 41 from 28 balls, sealed the win with 14 balls to spare. West Indies took the ODI series 2-1 and can celebrate a first home series win over England in the format since 1998.
The two sides will now prepare for the five-match T20 series that begins on Tuesday, also in Barbados. England went into this series with a much-changed side following their World Cup disappointment and with Jos Buttler's team not scheduled to play another 50-over match until September 2024, this was the last chance for many of the new-look team to impress for quite some time.
But while the rest of the top order came unstuck as West Indies made the most of friendly bowling conditions early on, Duckett made his pitch for a regular berth in the one-day team. The left-hander gritted it out early on as the wickets fell around him, seeing off Forde and co with the new ball before going about building a much-needed partnership with Liam Livingstone.
Duckett got his tempo just right, even holding back on playing his favoured sweep shots against the spinners to eliminate as much risk as possible with England in a precarious position. When the ball was there to be hit, he did so, and the only frustration was that having done all the hard work, he fell in relatively tame fashion just when he might have hoped to kick on.
A series defeat is not the way England wanted to start their new era in ODI cricket and they still have plenty of work to do to get back to the heights of 2019, but in Duckett they have a player capable of moving them in the right direction again. While England are looking to bounce back after a dreadful World Cup, West Indies' rebuild is starting from an even lower base after they failed to even qualify for the tournament in India.
They have looked to a new generation of players and a first ODI series win over England since 2007 - and a first at home this century - is a very promising start. Forde will take the plaudits and the 21-year-old was impressive on debut, moving the ball through the air and off the seam while consistently hitting a probing line and length to unsettle the England batters.
With the bat, opener Alick Athanaze played with great fluency for his 45 while Carty grew into his innings and showed some remarkable timing once he got into his stride. It was left to Shepherd, now one of the elder statesmen of the team, to finish the job and secure West Indies' first ODI series win over a full member nation since March 2021.
That statistic in itself shows the work that still needs to be done and there have been plenty of false dawns before for West Indies cricket but the early signs are encouraging for this new side. Ex-England captain Sir Alastair Cook said: "I think there are a lot of positives. Phil Salt needs a run in the white-ball set-up.
“He has a strike-rate of 140 at the top of the order. I like the fact you have someone who is that dynamic. How good can he be? It's going to intriguing to see if he can do it against top-quality bowlers.
"Harry Brook, after a strange World Cup, where he was in the squad then wasn't, he should just bat at number five and get experience in the team of leading the reboot. Players like that are potential match-winners and World Cup winners. They have that much talent."
England captain Jos Buttler: "This is the start of a long journey for this side. There are some young guys who have got their first taste of ODI cricket and have hopefully learned a lot and we can build something for the future."
Player of the match, West Indies bowler Matthew Forde: "Obviously getting a victory is a dream come true on debut. It was special for me. I am 21 and I'm living the dream."
