For the fifth time in less than three years, England have lost a series in the Caribbean. For all the relentless chatter that cricket in the region is dying a slow death, it is England who come here to suffer.

On paper, it is a crushing defeat for England. A 209-run partnership that saw both Keacy Carty (128 not out) Brandon King (102) cruise to centuries and hand the West Indies a second eight-wicket win of the series hardly breeds reason for optimism. But there are mitigating factors.

The group remains extremely inexperienced and ahead of the series decider at Kensington Oval they lost a crucial toss. Conditions in Barbados were hardest to bat in during the opening 25 overs before becoming gun-barrel straight when the floodlights came on and the dew in Bridgetown settled. Despite a 13th ODI loss in the past 20 matches for England, it is not the time for pitchforks.

“I’ve played a lot of cricket in the world and I don’t think I’ve ever played in a game where conditions have changed so much from one innings to the next,” captain Liam Livingstone said. “The pitch went from being slow to start with, to being absolutely drenched at the end. Both balls were soaking. It’s no excuse, we didn’t get enough runs, but even if we’d got 350 I don’t think it’d have mattered.”

With the bat, England recovered from a disastrous start after all of Will Jacks, Jordan Cox, Jacob Bethell and Liam Livingstone fell in the powerplay to leave the tourists 24 for four. Jacks and Livingstone edged behind driving, Bethell was wonderfully caught at backward point and Cox got a horrible lifter from Alzarri Joseph to end a difficult debut tour. In three matches, Cox made scores of 17, four and one.

But crisis creates opportunity, and with England’s back up against the wall, Phil Salt produced the type of patient innings he had been yet to deliver in an England shirt. Salt, along with Sam Curran, began England’s rescue mission. Two days ago, Salt said his aim in the ODI team was to “drop the strike-rate and pump the average”. Today, he did exactly that.

“He played lovely,” said Livingstone. “He does have that in him, he’s got a good technique and has gears to go through as well. Especially in that situation where we just needed someone to be there.”

Salt’s total of 74 off 108 balls was entirely out of keeping with the rest of his career as he accumulated slowly and guided his team to a competitive total. Just as Livingstone had shown in Antigua on Saturday, England’s white-ball dashers were proving they had another gear at their disposal.

As well as Salt, Curran (40) and Dan Mousley (57) both impressed with the style of patient, “smarter innings” that their captain Liam Livingstone had called for after the first ODI.

If Salt had gone about saving England slowly, it was a freak injury to Romario Shepherd that changed their fortunes quickly. With the first ball of the 42nd over, Shepherd’s spikes caught in the ground and he hit the deck. Initial laughter was replaced with concern as the fast bowler had to be helped off the field and was unable to continue. It was later revealed he was suffering from cramps.

The West Indies regularly pick only five bowlers, meaning they had no option but to bowl the part-time medium pace of Sherfane Rutherford from the Malcolm Marshall End for the rest of the innings. From the right-armer’s 3.5 overs, England bludgeoned him for 57 runs, with his final two overs going for 19 and then 25 runs. Jofra Archer in particular cashed in, striking three sixes in his vital 38 off 17 balls.

But from that point, England’s joy would gradually fade away. Jamie Overton picked up the wicket of Evin Lewis when the West Indies opener spliced a short-ball to midwicket, but aside from Reece Topley’s dismissal of King late-on, they would not get a sniff.

Of most concern for England will be the ineffectiveness of Archer and Adil Rashid across the series. Arguably the only two players who are genuine locks in England’s first-choice 50-over XI, Rashid finished with three wickets across the series and conceded his runs at more than six-an-over, while Archer claimed one wicket across three matches.

Under the lights in Barbados, it was King and Carty who nullified them. Carty, who made history in 2022 when he became the first cricketer from the tiny island of Sint Maarten to represent the West Indies, played his finest innings to date for his first international century.

For King, this was his third ODI century but first against England and arrived just five balls after his teammate. Like Carty,King entered this series with pressure on his place, but both left it as centurions as their match-winning partnership secured yet another series triumph for the West Indies against England.