Brook has been charged with reinvigorating England’s white-ball fortunes after a third poor major tournament in a row led to Jos Buttler’s resignation, and could hardly have had a better start.
The clean sweep is their first since one in the Netherlands in 2022 and one of the biggest decisions of his tenure so far – the promotion of Smith to open – appears to be paying off.
Smith showed glimpses in making 37 in the first ODI and with more effortless shot-making on his home ground showed why, despite the 24-year-old having never opened the batting in professional cricket, England have given him this role.
His first runs came off the inside edge but afterwards he cleanly struck another nine fours and three sixes as he targeted the leg side without resorting to slogs.
Having raced to 44 in 22 deliveries, he was dropped at mid-wicket by Justin Greaves and lifted Gudakesh Motie for six over long-on to reach fifty.
In the rest of the over he swept a four, rocked back to hit Motie for six again over mid-wicket and was bowled by the left-arm spinner but Smith had taken any jeopardy from the chase.
Duckett, also dropped on 15 in a lacklustre effort by West Indies, allowed his new opening partner to take the leading role in their opening stand of 93 and was eventually caught by Roston Chase.
The only surprise was that Root top-edged a catch to fine leg off Alzarri Joseph as he eased towards the winning line but, perhaps fittingly, that left captains new and old – Brook and Buttler – to secure victory, Buttler doing so with a huge six.
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