England were held up by the late arrival of the West Indies team bus at the Kia Oval, then charged to victory like a team determined to beat the traffic. Jamie Smith's 25-ball half-century, his first in ODIs, led them to 100 for 1 in a reduced eight-over Powerplay, and they cruised to a DLS-adjusted target of 246 with 10.2 overs to spare.

 

It meant a perfect start to captaincy for Harry Brook, sweeping his first series in permanent charge three-nil to draw a line under England's wretched white-ball results earlier this year. "It's a hell of a lot of fun when you're enjoying it with a lot of mates," Brook said. "I think we've got such a good side. The depth in batting is amazing, and we have a lot of skilful bowlers as well."

 

This was England's first ODI series win since September 2023, and their first series clean-sweep since a three-nil win in the Netherlands which marked the end of Eoin Morgan's tenure. The result also eases their concerns about automatic qualification for the 2027 World Cup, and leaves West Indies looking nervously over their shoulders at tenth-ranked Bangladesh.

 

West Indies' four-mile journey from their Chelsea hotel to Kennington took nearly two hours due to road closures and heavy congestion, and their delayed innings was further interrupted by rain. Sherfane Rutherford, returning from the IPL, hit 70 to hold their innings together but they were reeling at 154 for 7 when he fell to a sharp catch by Brook at mid-on.

 

It took a counter-attacking eighth-wicket partnership worth 91 off 68 balls between Gudakesh Motie and Alzarri Joseph to take West Indies to 251. Motie walked in at No. 8 after wickets off consecutive deliveries, but smeared Adil Rashid's hat-trick ball over midwicket for six; he hit five fours and two further sixes on his way to his highest ODI score.

 

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