West Indies suffer defeat in first T20 game against England

After a comprehensive 3-0 defeat in the ODI series, the West Indies were hoping for a better showing in the three-match T20 series which opened with a fixture in the north east of England, at Chester-le-Street in Durham.

Although only ranked ninth in the world for ODIs, the tourists sit in fifth place for the shorter format, so had every right to believe they could offer up a much sterner test to England’s new captain Harry Brook, who has so far enjoyed a 100% success rate, after the 50-over series.

England brought back 35-year-old Liam Dawson for his first international in three years, with former skipper Jos Buttler selected to bat at an unfamiliar number three position, and he was soon called upon after England chose to bat first and lost an early wicket.

Buttler played a secondary role initially, as Jamie Smith went on the attack and the two of them had the hosts at 78-1 at the end of the power play. However, three quick wickets reduced England to 116-4 with 8 overs left, and the visitors were sensing an opportunity.

An excellent spell of bowling by Gudakesh Motie in which he only conceded 21 runs helped matters, but controlled aggression by Buttler began to edge England up to a challenging total.

He showed all his experience and quality and it was a surprise to most people in the ground to see him miss out on a deserved century, falling leg before to Alzarri Joseph. just four runs short of three figures.

Nevertheless, he had helped massively in getting the total up to 188-6 and the West Indies probably felt they had allowed an extra 20 runs be scored, which would prove crucial.

Evin Lewis batted really nicely opening the innings, but he fell for what would be the top score of 39, to the last ball of the tenth over, which left the West Indies on 91-3. That very quickly became 100-5 and the required rate began to climb rapidly.

An unlikely 67 were needed off the last 5 overs, and with wickets falling at regular intervals, the game got away from the visitors. Although 16 came from the final over, it was not enough and England won the game by 21 runs.

West Indies captain Shai Hope was philosophical afterwards, admitting his side did not bowl quite how they planned in the power-play, but was keen to commend his bowlers for the fight they showed in pulling the game back and restricting England to 188.

“A lot of teams like to throw spin at West Indies and it is something we are aware of. We need to get better as a batting unit, but we have got so much depth and we are so powerful and so destructive. “We have just got to put this behind us, we have got two games to win the series.”

Winning skipper, Harry Brook was naturally delighted with the result, and was full of praise for

returning spinner Dawson – who put in a “Player of the Match” performance in taking 4-20.

“It is unbelievable to have Dawson and Adil Rashid working from both ends, operating the way they’ve done for so many years, with that wealth of experience,” he said.

He also paid tribute to Jos Buttler who he called “unbelievable”, saying it is an “honour” to have him batting in his side’s top three.

Brook admitted that the middle overs had been a little tricky, but felt his team were learning, adding: “We’ve got to take opportunities to learn from every game.”

The series now moves onto Bristol on Sunday 8 June, before what the West Indies will hope to be a decider in Southampton on Tuesday 10 June.