Bowling flexibility is key for England and Buttler after narrow Antigua loss

Tourists regret relying on seamers late in West Indies’ chase but spinner Rehan Ahmed praises ‘unbelievable captain’ Buttler

It is easy to see the defeat against West Indies on Sunday as a continuation of England’s World Cup travails, but with a little effort it is possible to paint it as a complete contrast: while in India the team’s results were critical and the games themselves not that interesting, in Antigua the one-day match was sensational and the result not that important.

“It was a great game,” Rehan Ahmed said. “I’d much rather those games than an easy win or an easy loss. We didn’t execute how we wanted to, it happens, it’s cricket. There were a lot of positives from it. We thought we won most of the game: we put a good score on the board, we bowled very well for the majority of the game, we just lost the key moments, which is fine as well.

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