England Rout Sorry West Indies In T20 Opener

England Rout Sorry West Indies In T20 Opener

Alex Hales (right) and Craig Kieswetter (centre) carried England to a most comprehensive victory over the West Indies at The Oval

©Action Images / Andrew Boyers Livepic

England 128-0 (Hales 62no, Kieswetter 58no) beat
West Indies 125 (Bopara 4-10) by 10 wickets
First Twenty20 International, The Oval
Scorecard

England demolished the West Indies to pick up a first ever ten-wicket win in Twenty20 International cricket by delivering a polished all-round performance in the first of two matches at The Oval.

The West Indies collapsed from 104 for three to 125 all out as Ravi Bopara returned national record figures of four for 10 before unbeaten half-centuries from Alex Hales and Craig Kieswetter saw England home with almost five overs to spare.

The tourists made a strong start with Dwayne Smith (33 in 22 balls) and Johnson Charles (36 in 38) putting on 51 during the Power Play before things began to unravel dramatically.

Smith was bowled by Samit Patel before Marlon Samuels was beaten in flight and bowled by captain Graeme Swann as the slower bowlers proved to be most effective.

Bopara bowled Danza Hyatt (28) and Nkruma Bonner (3) before Kieswetter took a fine catch to remove Christopher Barnwell first ball.

Although Bopara missed his hat-trick, he struck again to have Darren Sammy caught by Jonathan Bairstow for five and as England took control of the game, Jade Dernbach grabbed a wicket while Andre Russell (6) and Devendra Bishoo (0) were sharply run out by Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler.

Hales then put behind him his Twenty20 International debut when he failed to score against India by hitting an early boundary and he never looked back.

He struck nine fours on his way to 62 not out in 48 balls while Kieswetter notched his second half-century including two big sixes as the West Indies were dismal in the field.

Leg-spinners Bonner and Bishoo contrived to offer up three front-foot no balls, neither of them close calls, and the ground fielding lifted what little pressure there was on England, who simply cruised home with Kieswetter hitting the winning runs with his third boundary four.

The second game is on 25th September.

© Cricket World 2011