West Indies won the toss in Bridgetown and decided to bat first, with Chris Gayle and John Campbell opening the innings. The pair played slowly to start with, and it was Campbell who was the more aggressive of the pair, hitting Chris Woakes for a maximum until the bowler got his revenge, having him caught by Moeen Ali for 30 on the boundary. Gayle was dropped when he had only scored 8, and, together with Shai Hope set about making England pay for that error.
The two men put on 131 for the second wicket at more than six an over, as they laid a platform for the rest of the innings, before Hope fell for 64, caught by Adil Rashid off the bowling of Ben Stokes.
By this stage though Gayle was starting to accelerate, and the sixes started to flow. He reached his century off exactly 100 balls, his 24th in ODI cricket, and then looked to press on further. At the other end, Shimron Hetmyer scored 20 including a six and two fours, but he was caught by Jason Roy off the bowling of Woakes, and then the same man caught Nicholas Pooran, out for a duck, with Rashid the bowler this time. That brought Darren Bravo to the crease and, keen to join the “runs party” he scored 40 off 30 balls, including 4 sixes, before he was caught by Woakes off Rashid.
Gayle’s fantastic innings finally came to an end in the 47th over when he was bowled by Stokes for 135, having scored 12 sixes and 3 fours. And then his captain, Jason Holder fell for 16, stumped off the bowling of Rashid. Still the onslaught on the English bowlers continued through Ashley Nurse who hit two sixes, but Stokes was able to check the momentum slightly by having Carlos Braithwaite caught behind. However, with Devendra Bishoo, Nurse caused some late damage and hit the last ball of the innings for six, as the West Indies closed on a dominant 360 – 8, with Nurse 25 not out, and Bishoo unbeaten on 9.
Faced with such a daunting total, England needed a good start to their reply, and they duly got it with Roy and Jonny Bairstow putting on 91 for the first wicket in just under 11 overs, until the stand was broken by Holder, who had Bairstow caught behind for 34. Roy and Root then continued the run chase and the pair steered England past the 200 mark and ahead of the required run rate. Ray reached his 7th ODI century and had 123 on the scoreboard when he was caught by Bravo off the bowling of Bishoo. He had hit 3 sixes and 15 fours.
That brought captain Eoin Morgan to the crease, and he and Root showed all their experience, working the field and scoring boundaries where they were on offer. They added 116 for the third wicket to bring their side within reach of victory, before Morgan fell for 65, caught by Holder off the bowling of Oshane Thomas. He had hit 3 sixes and 4 fours.
Root and Stokes then closed in on the victory target, adding 39 for the 4th wicket, before Root fell just before the end for 102, his 14th ODI. He fell just before the end, caught by Pooran off Holder, having hit 9 fours, but he had done his job. Jos Buttler promptly hit the next ball for four to seal the win, with 8 balls to spare. Stokes was 20 not out at the end.
Jason Roy was named man of the match.