It was an ideal start for the hosts West Indies in their four-match T20I series against England as they mauled the visitors by nine wickets to take a 1-0 lead. More importantly, the manner of victory was important for the home team to restore its confidence after an unprecedented series loss to Ireland a week ago.
Sent in to bat first after losing the toss, England wouldn’t have thought that they would face so much problem adjusting to the bounce of the Bridgetown wicket in Barbados. Jason Roy started well by hitting a six off the very first shot that he played, but got out in the first over as his timber were uprooted by an inswinger from Sheldon Cottrell.
Tom Banton and Moeen Ali departed soon as well and though James Vince and skipper Eoin Morgan tried their best to put up a fight, it became a case of some bad luck as well when Vince played one straight to Darren Bravo at short cover after having hit 14 runs in that very over. At 49-7, when Morgan was removed by Romario Shepherd, it looked like a total goner for the visitors.
However, Chris Jordan and Adil Rashid put up a 36 run stand for the eighth wicket and tried to get some semblance into the innings. But Fabian Allen had other ideas as he removed Jordan to give a jolt to already decaying English hopes. Soon Rashid departed too as the last wicket after the fall of Saqib Mahmood with the team score at 103.
Jason Holder was the pick of the bowlers for the home team, getting four wickets for only seven runs in his spell of 3.4 overs.
Chasing the total, West Indies remained cautious throughout as after an opening stand of 52 by Brandon King and Shai Hope, Nicholas Pooran, known for his explosive boom-boom style of play also halted himself and played a patient knock to get over the line with only one wicket lost. King reached his third T20I fifty on the way to the target.
The two teams will now collide in the second T20I on January 24 at the same venue.