CARDIFF: England batter Joe Root scored his 18th One-Day International century and surpassed 7,000 runs in the format when the hosts beat West Indies by three wickets on Sunday to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match ODI series. Root’s masterly 166 off 139 balls helped England chase down a target of 309 in Cardiff. After electing to bowl, England made an early breakthrough to make it 6-1 by claiming the wicket of opener Jewel Andrew (0), before Brandon King and Keacy Carty put on a run-a-ball 141-run stand to calm West Indies’ nerves. Adil Rashid broke the partnership when King (59) holed out to long-off, and Will Jacks struck to end Carty’s fluent knock of 103, reducing West Indies to 205-3. Carty was dropped twice on one and 41 and also survived a few run-out chances, before going on to punish the England bowlers by notching his fourth ODI century. But Rashid continued to shine, tr-a--p-ping Shimron Hetmyer (four) lbw and finishing with figures of 4-63 to become England’s highest wi-c-ket-taking spinner across formats. West Indies lost wickets at regular intervals, but captain Shai Hope (78) and Justin Greaves (22) came to their rescue, helping the visitors to a total of 308 all out in 47.4 overs. England opened their run chase in disastrous fashion, reduced to 2-2 after both openers, Jamie Smith and Ben Duckett, were dismissed for ducks. Dropped on 30 by Hope off the bowling of Jayden Seales, England skipper Harry Brook went on to make 47 as he tried to stabilise their innings before falling to Alzarri Joseph, who ended with figures of 4-31. With Jos Buttler out for a duck and Jacob Bethell trapped lbw, Root anchored the innings, putting together a 143-run partnership with Jacks (49). But after Brydon Carse (two) was dismissed, Rashid (10) provided Root help on the other end as Engl-and chased down the target with seven balls to spare. Root, 34, also surpassed Eoin Morgan to become England’s leading ODI run-scorer. WEST INDIES: B. King c Carse b Rashid 59 J. Andrew c Jacks b Carse 0 K. Carty st Buttler b Jacks 103 S. Hope c Brook b Mahmood 78 S. Hetmyer lbw Rashid 4 J. Greaves c Duckett b Bethell 22 M. Forde c Brook b Mahmood 1 R. Chase c Buttler b Mahmood 0 G. Motie c Root b Rashid 18 A. Joseph b Rashid 10 EXTRAS (LB-2, W-11) 13 TOTAL (all out, 47.4 overs) 308 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-6 (Andrew), 2-147 (King), 3-205 (Carty), 4-212 (Hetmyer), 5-258 (Greaves), 6-268 (Forde), 7-268 (Chase), 8-294 (Motie), 9-304 (Joseph) BOWLING: Mahmood 9.4-0-37-3 (2w), Carse 9-1-59-1 (1w), Potts 9-0-56-0, Bethell 6-0-49-1 (3w), Rashid 10-0-63-4 (2w), Jacks 4-0-42-1 (1w) J. Smith c Hope b Seales 0 B. Duckett c Seales b Forde 0 J. Root not out 166 H. Brook c Seales b Joseph 47 J. Buttler b Joseph 0 J. Bethell lbw Chase 17 W. Jacks lbw Joseph 49 B. Carse c Seales b Joseph 2 A. Rashid not out 10 EXTRAS (B-8, LB-5, NB-1, W-7) 21 TOTAL (for seven wickets, 48.5 overs) 312 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-1 (Smith), 2-2 (Duckett), 3-87 (Brook), 4-93 (Buttler), 5-133 (Bethell), 6-276 (Jacks), 7-288 (Carse) DID NOT BAT: M. Potts, S. Mahmood BOWLING: Seales 9.5-1-56-1 (3w, 1nb), Forde 9-0-76-1 (3w), Joseph 10-1-31-4, Greaves 9-0-54-0, Chase 6-0-44-1, Motie 5-0-38-0 (1w) RESULT: England won by three wickets. Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2025