West Indies 170 for 5 (Rutherford 54, Powell 33; Hasaranga 2-17) beat Sri Lanka 169 all out (Wellalage 43, Mishara 28; Joseph 5-33) by 5 wickets
Prior to Sunday’s thrilling 5-wicket triumph over Sri Lanka at Sabina Park, which handed them a 2-1 victory, the West Indies hadn’t won a T20 International series since last October. And with a required run rate of 15.0 at the end of the 16th over, they were staring down the barrel of a fifth consecutive defeat.
It took three maximums off Dushmantha Chameera’s 17th over—two from the bat of Sherfane Rutherford and one from Rovman Powell's—to drag the rate back to two runs per ball.
The pair fashioned an 81-run (53 balls) fifth-wicket partnership to take the score from 53 for four in the ninth to put the West Indies in with a chance, needing 36 from the final three overs. Theirs was a partnership dotted with missed opportunities, but the important thing for the hosts is that they stuck around long enough to punish Sri Lanka for their errors.
Rutherford, who was dropped twice, saw the chase through to the tune of 54 unbeaten runs (40 balls). And while Powell’s 27-ball 33 reads as a less polished knock, it was constructed on the back of three maximums, which kept Windies afloat.
“You've got to build good habits, and winning is a habit,” said captain Shai Hope.
Also being alert to the importance of a winning habit, it didn’t matter to head coach Daren Sammy how the win came, just that it did.
“I was just hoping that we would get over the line,” he began. Fortunately for his team, Jason Holder had returned to the playing eleven after missing the second contest through injury and he brought the winning touch back with him.
The Barbadian’s innings lasted five deliveries, four of them he faced in Chameera’s 19th, three of which he hoisted into the Kingston night sky as the West Indies helped themselves to 23 runs from the over.
“Today it was a lot more thoughtful and smart cricket,” Sammy continued. “Especially by Rovman and Sherfane and followed by Jason Holder.”
The sentiments, while cliché on the surface, are in reference to the defeat in Saturday’s second T20I, where the hosts suffered two double-wicket strikes in a middle-order collapse to slip from 90 for two to 108 for six in their chase of 195.
Shai Hope also admitted, “[It’s] important we learn from previous matches.”
Despite Powell’s 43 from 23 in the second encounter, Windies’ finishing suffered a power failure, with Rutherford, Roston Chase, and Romario Shepherd managing just 32 runs from 28 deliveries before they were dismissed for 157.
On this occasion, however, they found the finishing touches, using just four deliveries of the final over to get the required six runs.
“We needed a victory,” Sammy said of his team that hadn’t had a home series win since 2024. And they scored 60 in 22 balls to get it.
“It's been a while since we won a T20 series at home. In front of the Jamaican fans, I know they wanted a victory for us. So I'm glad that we could finish the series on a high.”