England captain Liam Livingstone was left to rue losing the toss as his side slumped to a fifth successive series loss in the Caribbean as the West Indies cruised to an eight-wicket win to take the one-day series.
After Livingstone called incorrectly in Barbados, England stumbled to 24 for four.
They recovered to post 263 for eight but batting conditions had eased significantly when the reply began under lights, as Brandon King and Keacy Carty made centuries to get the Windies home with seven overs to spare.
As the hosts celebrated a 2-1 win, stand-in England captain Livingstone pointed out that the team that won the toss won the match on each occasion.
“The conditions weren’t very favourable to the team bowling second,” he said. “It’s no excuse, we didn’t get enough runs but ultimately if we’d have got 350, I don’t think it would have mattered.
“The pitch went from being so slow to start with to being absolutely drenched at the end. Both balls were soaking, we changed it halfway through and that was soaking within an over as well.
“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.
“There’s no surprise that the team who the toss twice in the series won. This time of year out here, it’s pretty difficult to bat first and defend a score.”
England lost both white-ball series last year, and this was a 13th reverse in 20 ODIs for a side that have given youth and inexperience a chance on this visit.
“We’re disappointed,” Livingstone said. “We’ve got a lot of young boys on this trip who have hopefully learnt a lot about playing international cricket. Hopefully, that will stand us in good stead.
“I feel like we’ve taken another step forward in the way we want to play our cricket and we’ve got a lot of people to come back into this squad moving forward.”
