England’s first ODI since their World Cup disaster ends in crushing four-wicket defeat by West Indies… as toiling bowlers have no answer for sensational Shai Hope

• England lost by four wickets in the opening one-day international in Antigua
• Shai Hope’s eased beyond 5,000 one-day international runs with a century 
• Romario Shepherd survived a leg before review on three to deliver late blows 

Unfortunately, for an England team in desperate need of a one-day reboot, the shockwaves felt at the start of this Caribbean tour were not restricted to a pre-match earthquake.

Tremors registering 5.2 on the Richter scale woke the touring party 24 hours before this opening match but they received an even more seismic jolt when West Indies made light work of what for a matter of four hours had been the highest one-day international score at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.

Building on a century stand at the start of a pursuit of 326, home captain Shai Hope eased beyond 5,000 one-day international runs with a classy hundred, getting there with the second of three sixes in four balls that sealed a four-wicket win with seven deliveries unused, and consigning Sam Curran to England’s worst-ever one-day analysis of 9.5-0-98-0 in the process.

The match’s sliding doors moment came when Romario Shepherd successfully reviewed a leg before call against him off left-armer Curran when he had just three to his name.

Curran briefly departed the attack following that over but was the major victim in the aerial assault that ensued as an astonishing 53 runs were plundered off his final 17 balls.

The road to redemption for Jos Buttler and England began poorly after defeat by West Indies 

Shai Hope eased beyond 5,000 one-day international runs with a classy hundred

Shepherd struck three sixes in a rapid 48, but Hope did not blink after losing his sixth-wicket partner at the start of the 48th over, meaning that for now the road to redemption for Jos Buttler and Matthew Mott, captain and coach during the disastrous World Cup, resembles a cul-de-sac.

‘It is always a hallmark of West Indian cricket that they are excellent six hitters and they managed to find the rope when they needed to,’ Buttler said.

‘We just didn’t close it out. There’s no need to panic, we’ve done a lot of things really well, there’s guys who have gained experience from this and we look forward to the next one.’

Uncertainty remains about the future of this format, but an appetite for watching cricket in the Caribbean led to 5,000 travelling supporters being on hand to witness the first one-day international since Australia were crowned its latest champions three weeks ago.

And they were served up a thriller with a nasty twist. Sure, West Indies are 10th in the ICC rankings and trumped Buttler’s team’s annus horribilis by failing to qualify for the recent tournament on the subcontinent, but they have proved something of a bogey side for England on home soil over the years, edging a Twenty20 series here 3-2 last year.

Harry Brook debuted on that visit and his typically belligerent 71 and several other cameos helped England post 325 all out – briefly the high watermark in 42 one-day internationals on this ground.

Their 13 sixes across the innings was also the fourth most by an England team since they became world champions in 2019. A statistic that answered the call for more aggressive intent at the beginning of a new four-year cycle.

Those numbers should have been enough, particularly when the excellent Rehan Ahmed belied his teenage status with a mature performance of 10-1-40-2 to leave West Indies requiring 101 from the final nine overs.

Harry Brook’s half-century and several other cameos helped England post 325 all out 

Rehan Ahmed had belied his teenage status with a mature performance of 10-1-40-2

However, the seamers could not keep their cool under siege from Shepherd’s muscular hitting. More significantly, at the other end there was Hope. A man who lives by his name during chases due to an average in excess of 50.

There were just 18 balls of an innings littered with eight wides and an overthrow remaining when a full, straight delivery from Gus Atkinson finally accounted for Shepherd for 48, and left 24 runs for the Windies to get from six wickets down.

They did so at a canter. The equation was 18 from 11 when Curran produced a knee-high full toss that was pummelled over the rope at midwicket by Hope. Two more strikes to the same region of the ground brought up his 16th ODI century and then put the Windies into a 1-0 lead with two matches of the series remaining.

The end of the match mirrored its start. After winning the toss, England began as if their recent travails had simply been a bad dream courtesy of new-look opening pair Phil Salt and Will Jacks.

Both players travelled here without central contracts, but equally did so unencumbered by the cagey campaign of six defeats in nine that England endured in India.

Playing with the freedom of men spared that torturous trip, and answering demands to begin a new four-year reboot with positivity, they powered 77 runs from the first 50 deliveries of the series – Salt leading the way with three clearances of the rope in a rapid 45.

So cleanly did he strike the ball, in fact, that it was something of a surprise when he spooned a delivery that stuck in the pitch to cover off the slow left-armer Gudakesh Motie.

When Jacks departed in the following over without addition to the score, nicking Alzarri Joseph, a rebuild was required.

Brook took responsibility, failing to be distracted by the loss of others, including Butler who found that a change of scene did not possess any immediate restorative powers for his personal form.

Sam Curran was runout by Yannic Cariah of West Indies while chasing a quick single 

Romario Shepherd survived a leg before review on three to deliver late blows

Having scratched about for a dozen deliveries, the 33-year-old turned to a reverse sweep in a bid to break the shackles but could only glove to slip off Motie for three, plunging his average to 14 over the past two months.

‘I feel good, I just keep managing to get out. It’s disappointing, frustrating and gone on for a lot longer than I’d have liked but there’s only myself who can score my own runs, I’m not going to score any if I hide away,’ Buttler said.

Brook, England’s fall guy at the World Cup after failing to build on a couple of starts early in the tournament, did not flinch, launching a team counter-attack by crunching a 92-metre hit off Shepherd into one of the ground’s four concrete floodlight pylons.

Curran, sporting sunglasses under his helmet, tapped into his inner Universe Boss to crunch a 26-ball 38 during a 66-run stand for the eighth wicket with Brydon Carse but it was for his ignominious performance with the ball that has left England on more shaky ground that he will be remembered.

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