England provided a grandstand finish to the Royal London One-Day Series, but Kamlesh Nagarkoti held his nerve to seal a 5-0 whitewash for India with one wicket and four balls to spare.
India seemed to be cruising towards a comfortable win at 216 for six, needing only seven more runs to win, after England’s middle order had again floundered against their spinners.
But Warwickshire seamer Henry Brookes then breathed new life into the game by having Rahul Chahar and Yash Thakur caught behind by Tom Banton in the space of four balls of a typically wholehearted spell.
Durham opener Liam Trevaskis had already lured Shiva Singh into a heave to Harry Brook at mid-off, and suddenly India were nine wickets down and still needing six to win, with four overs remaining.
Matt Potts cranked up the pressure with an excellent over at Nagarkoti in which he could take only four off a thick edge, and Trevaskis then bowled a maiden at India’s number 11 Ishan Porel.
But Nagarkoti, whose new-ball bowling has been such an important factor of India’s domination of both the white-ball and red-ball series, underlined his all-round ability by squirting Potts through the covers for the winning boundary.
“It was a very exciting climax to the series,” said England head coach Andy Hurry, who highlighted the contributions of spinners Will Jacks and Liam Patterson-White, as well as Brookes and Potts at the death.
“The resilience, the fight and the character this team have demonstrated again, defending a low score as they did in the first game of the series in Cardiff, is outstanding. There were a couple of stand-out individual performances with the ball – Jacksy and Patterson-White, then when Henry Brookes came back and the execution of skills under pressure at the end from Pottsy. That’s something for those guys to really build on.
“But you can’t hide from the fact that we’ve lost the Test series 2-0 and the one-day series 5-0. We must reflect honestly because it’s important. It will be a really positive experience if we do develop our games from here.”
Warwickshire opener Liam Banks had made his first half century of the series after Brook won the toss and chose to bat, and a second-wicket stand of 87 with his captain had left England well-placed at 117 for one in the 26th over.
Then Banks drove the left-arm spin of Abhishek Sharma to wide long-off, after making 51 from 74 balls with six boundaries – triggering a slump of four for 11. Felix Organ and Jacks both went lbw for ducks to the leg-spinner Chahar from consecutive balls, then Brook top-edged a sweep to fall for 49 from 65 balls, failing to provide the big innings England needed after hitting six fours and a glorious six over extra cover.
Tom Banton, who returned to the side after injury on his home county ground and took over the wicketkeeping gloves from Ollie Robinson, drove a return catch to Sharma, leaving his Somerset team-mate Tom Lammonby in a familiar position trying to dig England out of trouble.
Lammonby, the youngest member of the squad, again played patiently and intelligently to make 31 from 44 balls, leaving him as England’s highest run-scorer and top of the averages, with 151 at almost 38 – a performance that was recognised by India’s coaching staff who named him England’s man of the series.
Brookes then provided a much-needed flourish by hitting 24 off 12 balls including two sixes off Chahar’s last over. But India’s captain Prithvi Shaw got their reply off to a flier with a 39-ball 50, and wicketkeeper Harvik Desai also batted well to make 44 from 60 balls.
England’s spinners checked the run rate. Patterson-White, a slow left-armer from Nottinghamshire who had already pulled off a direct hit to run out Himanshu Rana, dismissed both Shaw and Desai, and had two for 19 from his first seven overs before going for 18 in his last three.
Jacks, the Surrey all-rounder whose off-spin has been one of the most consistent positives of the series for England, again bowled his 10 overs straight through, taking one for 28 – courtesy of an excellent catch by Banks, diving forward from extra cover.
