England set West Indies 419 to win fourth ODI – live!

9th over: West Indies 74-2 (Gayle 44, Bravo 7) Plunkett replaces Woakes, who was savaged for 43 from four overs by Gayle. After making one from his first 12 balls, Bravo drills a majestic flat six over extra cover. That’s the 31st six of the match, which equals the second highest of all time. Already.

“It’s not that I have to pinch myself to take in the sheer revelation of England’s batting turnaround since the fiasco of four years ago, because sometimes I do,” says Vic Neale. “The audacious brutality of the hitting is a wonder to behold. But, why do I still get this nagging feeling it will all end in the knockout stage where the toss has been lost and a D/L chase dashes hope again…”

That question requires a dissertation about the malformed psychology of the England cricket fan, not a throwaway reply. Even if they do fail to win – and I’ve a hunch/fear they might lose to Virat Kohli in the final – we should be grateful for four years of almost ceaseless brilliance, with the occasional abject shambles thrown in for a bit of nostalgia and levity.

8th over: West Indies 67-2 (Gayle 44, Bravo 1) Wood has a couple of biggish LBW appeals against Bravo turned down. Both pitched outside leg. Bravo eventually gets off the mark from his tenth delivery. Way to go, lad.

7th over: West Indies 65-2 (Gayle 43, Bravo 0) For the second consecutive over from Woakes, Gayle hits the first two balls effortlessly for six. The second, waved nonchalantly over extra cover, was pretty special – even in a match that has produced 29 sixes already. He adds a couple of fours and then, most spectacularly of all, takes a quick single off the last ball to make it 21 from the over. I don’t understand what I’m watching.

“Surely if Nathan Barley was watching tonight then I’m sure he’d be moved to call any run chase ‘well futile’,” says Guy Hornsby. “I guess Chris Gayle may have something to say about that. If he has enough partners. Otherwise England’s idiots are winning.”

Wouldn’t he call it futile if they were on course to win?

6th over: West Indies 44-2 (Gayle 22, Bravo 0) “Hi Rob,” says Kandukuru Nagarjun. “This may be good entertainment and all, but is in no way cricket. Cricket equipment is being used, but they aren’t playing cricket. Cricket is a game that pits batsmen against bowlers. In this series it’s England’s batsmen versus West Indies’ batsmen. We might call it anti-cricket. I fear the upcoming global tournament will an anti-cricket World Cup too.”

I quite like it, though I do take your point. If every game was like this it would be way too much, but we aren’t at that stage yet. What would be your ideal par score in an ODI? Mine would be about 300, I think.

A second wicket from Mark Wood, who is so damned hot right now. Hope, unsettled by the previous delivery, fiddles loosely outside off stump and is comfortably taken by the wicketkeeper Jos Buttler.

5th over: West Indies 40-1 (Gayle 22, Hope 0) Gayle whomps consecutive sixes off Woakes, muscling a short ball over midwicket and then driving down the ground. He has 22 from 16 balls, and this isn’t cricket.

4th over: West Indies 26-1 (Gayle 10, Hope 0) “Dear Rob,” says Steve Colwill. “I guess the West Indies’ first job is to avoid the follow-on.”

England have scored just 418 and it’s only their third highest score of the last three years. What is this thing we’re watching?

John Campbell’s jaunty cameo ends when he tries to deposite Wood over the leg side and slices it high to Root at extra-cover.

3rd over: West Indies 24-0 (Gayle 9, Campbell 15) After four dot balls, Gayle mows Woakes over midwicket for six. West Indies have got off to a flyer – and they are still behind the require rate.

“Hi Rob,” says Damian Clarke. “The closest Nathan Barley description I can think of is, ‘Well cheeks, man, well cheeks!’”

2nd over: West Indies 18-0 (Gayle 3, Campbell 15) Campbell gets the first boundary, clumping Wood back over his head for four, and then ramps a startling six over long leg. How do you even begin to that to somebody who is bowling 90mph? This, with thanks to Phil Harrison, is the sort of reaction time Campbell would have had. Fifteen from the over!

“Well,” says John Starbuck. “I suggest we now name Buttler the PowerHitter. A true JCB.”

1st over: West Indies 3-0 (Gayle 2, Campbell 1) A statement of intent from Chris Gayle, who offers no stroke to Chris Woakes’ first delivery. Gayle won’t be rushed, not even with a target of 419, and I think that’s the right approach. A 15-ball 40 from Gayle is no good to anyone; West Indies need him to bat the whole innings and make 240. A good first over from Woakes goes for three singles.

“Well that was fun,” says Adam Hirst. “Nasser Hussain called some of them golf shots, and from those low full tosses they looked just like an open-faced bunker shot, knees dropping low to the ground to get right under the ball. Fabulous stuff. Out of the finest century makers in ODIs, only seven have a strike rate of over 100. De Villiers, Sehwag, Afridi, David Miller and three of England’s squad here. Not bad company to be keeping, and Buttler tops the lot.”

Thanks Simon, hello everyone. I haven’t a clue what to say. I cannot think of anything that would even begin to explain what we’ve just seen from Jos Buttler. With the possible exception of Moeen Ali at Bristol two years ago, it was the most awesome bit of concentrated hitting that I’ve ever seen from an England player: 105 from his last 33 balls, including boundaries off 11 consecutive deliveries. I doubt even Nathan Barley could come up with a phrase to describe it.

I’m going to hand over to Rob Smyth, who will take you through West Indies’ reply. Emails to him here, please. It has been, very literally, a blast. Bye!

Buttler’s innings ended with 105 runs from 32 deliveries, with an 11-ball 54 in the middle of it. That’s 54 runs from 11 balls. 54. 11. Astonishing hitting, though West Indies helped a bit by repeatedly feeding him low full tosses, most of which met the same fate.

50th over: England 418-6 (Moeen 0) Five times since the last World Cup a team has scored 400 runs in an ODI. South Africa have done it once, against India in October 2015, and the other four were England. This is their third-biggest total since the last World Cup. Buttler doesn’t stay until the end, but he does hit a 12th six, an all-time record, and the last 11 overs were just insane.

From the last ball of the innings, Stokes holes out to Hetmyer at long off!

Brathwaite bowls slow and straight, Buttler mistimes his heave, and he goes off to a standing ovation! One of the greatest ODI innings. It took him 32 balls to go from 50 runs to 150 runs.

49th over: England 409-4 (Buttler 144, Stokes 10) A Stokes single, and then Buttler thunders yet another low full toss onto the roof of the stand, up with the solar panels and air conditioning units, before saluting Cottrell with a smile. Stokes isn’t quite middling anything, but his singles keep putting Buttler on strike and he keeps hitting the ball into the stands, ending the over with another straight six! That’s his 11th of the innings, equalling the ODI world record! Stokes again on strike for the start of the last over…

48th over: England 392-4 (Buttler 131, Stokes 6) Thomas completes his allocation, with Stokes slicing the ball just past a diving Gayle for four, and Buttler’s wild swing and thick edge sending the ball high to third man for four more. Stokes is on strike for the start of the penultimate over.

47th over: England 382-4 (Buttler 126, Stokes 1) Cottrell doesn’t hold back as Morgan heads back to the pavilion, saluting with great enthusiasm. Buttler’s enthusiasm is equally undimmed, clubbing over long-on for six and then powering a drive down the ground, which the bowler gets a thumb on, removing just enough pace to allow a fielder to stop it near the boundary.

Morgan goes for hyperspace again but doesn’t nail it, and Holder takes a straightforward catch at long off!

46th over: England 369-3 (Morgan 103, Buttler 114) Buttler hammers the ball down the ground for six, where it’s caught in the stand by James Taylor, of all people, who happens to be hanging out there. He gets the next one wrong, top-edging to third man, who takes a good catch running backwards … but it’s a no-ball, arriving above waist height! Morgan’s on strike for the free hit, but the ball is slow and wide and he doesn’t get anything on it. No matter – the next one flies over extra cover for six! And with that he completes his own century, from a frankly disappointing 86 balls. A single later, Buttler sends another low full toss into the ether. That is just a ludicrous shot. Insane. It goes down the ground, and practically into space.

45th over: England 348-3 (Morgan 96, Buttler 101) Buttler completes his century in atypical style, with two dot balls followed by a cut for a couple. It’s taken him 60 balls to get to treble figures. It took 45 for him to reach 50, and another 15 deliveries to complete the ton. Fifteen. Still, England only eke the four runs from Cottrell’s seventh over.

44th over: England 344-3 (Morgan 95, Buttler 98) Thomas must have been watching this carnage with trepidation, because he starts with a rank wide full toss and follows that with a no ball. Buttler’s facing, and he hammers it over cow corner for six! That is huge! And the next one goes straight as an arrow, down the ground for six more! That’s 48 runs from the last 10 balls he’s faced! Then he smites one straight to Campbell at deep cover, and it goes down! There’s still time for Buttler to batter four more off the last. This is remarkable stuff, this.

43rd over: England 323-3 (Morgan 93, Buttler 81) Brathwaite’s averages take a beating here. He tries a low full toss, and Buttler seems to have another go at crippling his captain, smacking it right at him! This time Morgan gets out of the way, and the ball disappears for four. Then he flicks one down the leg side, the ball just nicking off the toe of the bat, for four. Then another low full toss, and Buttler hammers it down the ground for six! Finally the bowler changes it up, bowls short and wide and is cut away for four! The last one is flicked to the rope at midwicket, and Buttler has hit his last eight deliveries for 36 runs, with six fours and two sixes!

42nd over: England 300-3 (Morgan 93, Buttler 59) 6.4461! Holder’s first delivery disappears into the crowd, and four of the last five overs have featured at least one six. Then Morgan completely mishits one over mid off for four, and drives just beyond the clutches of the fielder at cover. The next is a full toss that arrives just below hip height, and Morgan slogs it over deep square leg for six more!

41st over: England 279-3 (Morgan 72, Buttler 59) Brathwaite bowls, and Buttler reaches 50 with six runs over midwicket, and then volleys the next ball, a slightly overpitched yorker, down the ground for four more! The last is a full toss which he attacks and top-edges for another four! He thus becomes the fourth England batsman to reach 50 in this innings.

40th over: England 264-3 (Morgan 71, Buttler 45) Buttler gets his bat on a yorker. I think he’s trying to hit through midwicket but instead the ball skews, at pace, straight into Morgan’s chest. The England captain goes down briefly, hauls himself up, limps to the other end to complete the run, and then calls on the physio. After a few minutes’ treatment the physio decides he’s able to continue, Morgan sets himself, and he hoists Holder’s very next delivery into the stands!

39th over: England 254-3 (Morgan 63, Buttler 43) Brathwaite has bowled excellently, and this is another fine over. Four runs from it, all in singles. Meanwhile these constant lingering shots of Grenadian beeches, forests and waterfalls shoehorned between overs might prompt the occasional British viewer into booking a holiday there at some point, but overall they seem a little cruel. We know the Caribbean is nice. We know you’re there. No need to rub it in. Still, at least the sun is shining in London – it could be worse.

38th over: England 250-3 (Morgan 61, Buttler 41) Nurse completes his allocation and … sayonara! Buttler thunders the ball miles over long on for six!

37th over: England 240-3 (Morgan 59, Buttler 33) Thomas bowls, and Morgan hammers his first delivery through the covers for an emphatic four. From there, though, there’s a wide and five dots.

36th over: England 235-3 (Morgan 55, Buttler 33) “Sobriety may be a bit boring but I’m enjoying the batting non-collapse, so far,” insists Andrew Benton, as Nurse’s penultimate over goes for three. “Hope the test team is watching closely.”

35th over: England 232-3 (Morgan 53, Buttler 32) Talking of ramps, Buttler helps the ball over fine leg for four, and then Morgan hammers it over midwicket for six!

34th over: England 220-3 (Morgan 46, Buttler 26) Nurse has a couple of overs left after this one, which yields four singles and a double. With a shade over 15 overs to go and plenty of batsmen in the queue, England are surely about to ramp this up.

33rd over: England 214-3 (Morgan 42, Buttler 25) Thomas is back, with five more overs to bowl (well, four now). Morgan takes a bit of a run-up and then savages him over the covers for six! Other than that, though, it’s all pretty sober stuff.

32nd over: England 207-3 (Morgan 35, Buttler 25) Five dot balls and a single in the over, Nurse certainly has a healing effect on West Indies’ mood as the go into the drinks break.

31st over: England 206-3 (Morgan 34, Buttler 25) England get singles from the first four balls of Bishoo’s over, the last of those with a reverse sweep from Morgan. As he waits for the next delivery, he’s seen catching Buttler’s eye and giving a sharp nod, as if to say, ‘Yep, I know. I’ve got it.’ The next ball disappears over cow corner for six.

30th over: England 196-3 (Morgan 32, Buttler 17) Three runs come off the first five balls before Morgan pumps the last over extra cover. Hetmyer runs round to cut if off, leans down, extends his hands and then lets the ball run right through them. Four!

29th over: England 189-3 (Morgan 26, Buttler 16) Buttler sweeps Bishoo for four and is looking in fine fettle already, though he and England certainly have another gear or two.

28th over: England 182-3 (Morgan 25, Buttler 10) Nurse is twice battered past fine leg by Buttler. Cottrell is the fielder there, but once leaves a ball he could perhaps have stopped had the thrown himself it, and the next time he goes to his right only for the ball to go to his left.

27th over: England 173-3 (Morgan 25, Buttler 1) Bishoo’s first over went for 19 runs, with Bairstow hitting three sixes. There are no fireworks this time, with the one boundary coming when Morgan nearly totally misjudges sweep, gets just a tiny nibble on the ball, and it trundles away for four.

26th over: England 166-3 (Morgan 20, Buttler 0) Nurse is back, having taken some punishment earlier in the innings. Hales tries to repeat the dose, but the bat wobbles in his hands as the ball strikes it and consequently doesn’t quite go far enough. Still, some fine work by Hetmyer was required to complete the dismissal. Now, what can Bishoo do?

Hales tries to hoist the ball down the ground but Shimron Hetmyer runs round to take a fine running catch on the boundary!

25th over: England 163-2 (Hales 80, Morgan 19) That’s a fine shot! Hales jabs the ball high down the ground for a one-bounce four. And thus we reach the halfway point in the innings, and perhaps what’s most encouraging for England is that they’re about to get another chance to tuck into some spin.

24th over: England 153-2 (Hales 71, Morgan 18) Holder’s final delivery is short and arrives at Hales at hip height, allowing him to work it the fine leg boundary. The West Indies’ seamers are doing an excellent, disciplined job on a pitch that has proved not at all helpful, but the occasional loose delivery has crept in from time to time.

23rd over: England 145-2 (Hales 64, Morgan 17) At the end of the 10th over people were muttering about record totals. Not any more: Morgan flicks one to square leg for a couple, but there were five dot balls before that.

22nd over: England 143-2 (Hales 64, Morgan 15) Holder also returns, and Morgan tries a couple of drives down the ground, one fielded, the other too good.

21st over: England 136-2 (Hales 63, Morgan 10) Sheldon Cottrell comes back, and pops England back in their box. One from the over.

20th over: England 136-2 (Hales 62, Morgan 10) Thomas bowls short, and Morgan cracks it away for four.

18th over: England 124-2 (Hales 56, Morgan 4) In comes Morgan, who has passed 50 in six of his last eight ODI innings (and was not out in the other two). His second delivery disappears through the covers for four!

He did nick it! Root tries to drive a delivery that was too short and too close to him, and get a very gentle top edge through to the keeper!

But the umpire didn’t. Time to go upstairs!

17th over: England 119-1 (Hales 55, Root 5) Braithwaite pitches one a little short, and Hales works it off his hip to long leg for four. That was Brathwaite’s fifth over, and the first boundary he’s conceded.