T20: Loose bowling, costly fielding hand England lead
SUMMARY: England 161-6 (Bairstow 68, Denly 30, Cottrell 3-29) beat West Indies 160-8 (Pooran 58, Bravo 28, Curran 4-36) by four wickets
A quick-fire half century by Jonny Bairstow has led England to a comfortable four-wicket victory against West Indies in the opening game of their three-match T20I series in St Lucia.
After Nicholas Pooran‘s impressive fifty anchored West Indies’ innings in the face of a strong all-round England bowling performance led by Tom Curran‘s 4-36, Bairstow charged towards the tourists’ target of 161 from the outset.
West Indies were not helped by some loose bowling and even more costly fielding. They got wickets too, but Bairstow lost batting partners Alex Hales, Joe Root and Eoin Morgan as well as being dropped twice and he did not even flinch, racing to his fifty off 27 balls and reaching his 68 off 40 before lofting Ashley Nurse to Carlos Brathwaite on the boundary.
While the danger wasn’t completely removed for England, Bairstow had set them off to such a strong start that nothing short of a serious colllapse would see them beaten.
Kent team-mates Joe Denly and Sam Billings all but completed the job with a 50-run partnership for the fifth wicket so that when Jason Holder had Denly caught by Pooran for 30 off 29 balls, England needed just eight runs to win.
But there were nervous moments to come when Billings was dropped on Holder’s next ball by Oshane Thomas, whose one-handed attempt at deep square leg was a mess. Then Sheldon Cottrell added his third wicket with his first ball back into the attack, bowling Billings for 18.
By then, however, England only needed seven runs and they reached the target with seven balls to spare.
West Indies kept the squad which drew the ODI series 2-2 with England but made two key tweaks to their side, bringing in Pooran and Fabian Allen for John Campbell and Devendra Bishoo.
Shai Hope opened alongside Chris Gayle in Campbell’s place and immediately received a second chance when Adil Rashid dropped a sitter at third man off David Willey in the first over.
Fortunately for England, however, Root held on to a leading edge at midwicket off Curran in the next over and Hope was sent packing with West Indies 7-1.
Surprisingly, with Gayle at the other end, it was Shimron Hetmyer who hit the first six three balls later. But, sure enough, Gayle chimed in with two of his own in the following over and it looked like the slog-fest his 39 sixes in the one-day series promised would continue in the shorter format.
It was not to be, however, and when Gayle fell just a short time later, caught by Rashid at gully off Chris Jordan for just 15 off 12 balls, Pooran’s inclusion became key.
After a stuttering start to his international career because of an 18-month layoff after injuring both his legs in a horror car accident in 2015, the 23-year-old Pooran made his ODI debut in the first fixture of the series against England in Barbados last month, scoring a duck, dropping a catch and holding another.
But, playing his ninth T20I, he stepped into the void left by Gayle’s dismissal, bringing up his 50 off just 32 deliveries then slapping the next ball for a mammoth 111m six off Curran which cleared the roof of the stands.
Pooran was out three balls later, however, bowled by Curran with a clever delivery that took the top of middle stump for 58 off 37 balls, his highest T20I score.
Pooran shared a 64-run partnership with Darren Bravo, who was out to a spectacular piece of fielding by Jordan off his own bowling. Jordan’s slower ball enticed a leading edge from Bravo and the bowler had to change direction on his follow-through to take a diving catch in his outstretched right hand.
Jordan was impressive, bowling just three overs to claim 2-16, while Rashid was also excellent with 2-15 off his four. Joe Denly claimed the handy wicket of Allen off his three overs but the pick of England’s bowlers was Curran with all of his wickets being dangerous batsmen in Hope, Hetmyer, Pooran and Jason Holder. (ESPNCricinfo)
