England have suffered yet another disaster to kick-off their tour of the Caribbean as West Indies star Jason Holder took a double hat-trick in the final over of the match.
Following a disastrous away Ashes series in Australia during December and January, where the tourists fell to a 4-0 series defeat which was just a single wicket away from being a complete whitewash, Chris Silverwood's under fire team departed for the Carribean.
A five-match T20 series against the West Indies kicked things off, and after an incredibly shaky start which saw the tourists dismissed for just 103, they managed to hit back and win two of the next three matches.
That meant the final match of the Bridgetown-based series was the decider, and for England, a critical match as they looked to gain some confidence ahead of a three-Test series, to be played at North Sound, Bridgetown and St George's.
But that confidence was a bridge too far for the English. Chasing a score of 4 for 179 following a late innings Kieron Pollard blitz, they found themselves needing 180 for victory.
Regular wickets left them at 6 for 160 in the final over, and while Sam Billings was at the crease on 40 from just 26 balls, the ask was always great to score 20 runs off a single over.
What followed was absolute carnage.
Billings would take a single off a no ball from the first, before Chris Jordan missed the free hit.
Holder then went bang, bang, bang, bang, taking four wickets in four balls. He first had Jordan caught on the fence, before Billings did the same. Adil Rashid was then caught on the leg side as well to complete the hat-trick, before Saqib Mahmood was bowled to end the match, England embarrassingly losing 4 for 2 from the final over of the match, which cut short with a ball to spare.
It will heap more pressure on the English set up, who, despite being heavy favourites for the T20 World Cup prior to the Ashes, didn't make the finals.
With the team struggling in all three formats over the last 12 months, a Test series win in the West Indies now becomes critical, while Chris Silverwood's position as head coach looks at best, up in the air.
The English Cricket Board, led by former spinner Ashley Giles, promised a full review after the Ashes.
Any findings or recommendations from said review are yet to be released, however, patience must be wearing thin for Silverwood as the entire County Cricket system comes under the microscope for poor performances from the national team.
Following the Tests in the West Indies, England will play New Zealand and South Africa in Test cricket during their home summer, as well as India and the Netherlands in white-ball cricket.
