England's Bowlers Set the Tone Early
If you blinked, you might’ve missed West Indies’ disastrous start. The final ODI at Taunton felt over almost before it began. England won the toss, took the ball, and in a flash had West Indies reeling at 4 runs for 3 wickets in just the fourth over. That isn’t a typo—the visitors watched their top order ripped out in barely a dozen minutes. Taunton’s pitch gave England’s seamers exactly what they craved: a humid, overcast setting with just enough nibble off the seam.
England’s pace attack smelled blood. Kate Cross and Lauren Bell wasted no time, sharing the first three wickets between them and pinning West Indies with tight lines and subtle movement. The pressure was relentless. By the twelfth over, West Indies had crawled to 43-3, desperate just to hang around until the rain came. When the skies eventually broke open for nearly five hours, it might have felt more like a reprieve than a setback for the shell-shocked batters struggling to find their feet.
Rainy Drama and the DLS Twist
The delay turned a slow-burn cricket contest into a test of patience. When play resumed, West Indies added some belated flair to their innings, slapping together 60 runs in the last seven overs to end on 106 all out. Those late fireworks, spearheaded by lower-middle order hitters, gave their fans at least a glimpse of fight after that brutal opening.
The interruption forced officials to reach for the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) tables. England’s chase was trimmed down to 106 from 21 overs—still a straightforward task, considering the firepower at the top of their order. Tammy Beaumont and Emma Lamb handled business with their trademark calm. There were a few nervous moments as the ball occasionally nipped around, but nothing to trouble England for long. Beaumont in particular looked a class apart, threading gaps and rotating strike until the required runs ticked off. The chase wrapped up with overs to spare, underlining the gulf between the two teams.
This result capped off a dominant white-ball campaign for England Women. They didn’t just out-skill West Indies—they out-thought them at every key moment. The West Indies, meanwhile, spent much of the series scrambling to recover from early collapses or breakdowns in the field, never quite stringing together a complete performance. England’s bowlers, spinners and seamers alike, exploited every weakness, and their batters rarely gave away opportunities.
With a clean sweep in both the ODI and T20 series, England head into the next stretch of fixtures with confidence soaring, while West Indies are left with a heap of questions and plenty to work on before their next white-ball outing.
