Pressure on Morgan and death bowling woes – England’s T20 series in West Indies

England were edged out at the last by Jason Holder’s four wickets in four balls as the West Indies prevailed 3-2 in their five-match Twenty20 series at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.

Here, the PA news agency takes a look at a much-changed England’s campaign.

Eoin Morgan is unquestionably one of England’s greatest captains whose shrewd thinking can still tilt the outcome of a match, but is the mastermind of the 2019 50-over World Cup win still worth his place in the side? He is without a half-century in 18 innings dating back to August 2020. The left-hander’s career has had plenty of ups and downs in form but he looked scratchy in making 30 off 41 balls in his two innings before a low grade quad injury ruled him out of the series. He will be 36 if, as expected, he leads England to the T20 World Cup this year in Australia but might just be looking over his shoulder as his side’s batting stocks increased in the Caribbean.

After Jimmy Neesham swung momentum in New Zealand’s favour in last year’s T20 World Cup semi-final, there has been scrutiny on England’s death bowling. Chris Jordan has been Morgan’s go-to at the end of an innings for several years but he and left-armer Tymal Mills had an economy rate in double figures as the Windies routinely piled on the runs late on. Reece Topley, back in a T20 international shirt after six injury-plagued years away, went at seven an over, no mean feat as he largely featured at the front and back end so it is not all doom and gloom while England, without several batting and bowling options following the Ashes, have options to come back in. Jofra Archer, meanwhile, is on the comeback trail as he regularly trained with England a month after a second elbow operation.

Adil Rashid went to