Marlon Samuels hit an unbeaten 69 and then took two wickets in the England run chase in Barbados.
©WICB Media / Randy Brooks
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Samuels, Badree Star As Windies Win
West Indies 170-3 (Samuels 69no) beat
England 143-9 (Badree 3-17) by 27 runs
First Twenty20 International, Barbados
Scorecard
An excellent all-round performance from the West Indies, led by Marlon Samuels with both bat and ball, saw them record a comfortable win over England in the first of three Twenty20 Internationals at Bridgetown in Barbados.
Injury worries for both sides
While the West Indies will wait to see how serious the knee injury suffered by Sunil Narine is, England have already ruled Stuart Broad out of the final two matches of the series.
Like Narine, he suffered a knee injury during the game and the tourists will be led by Eoin Morgan for the final two matches.
Broad will then have an injection to get him through the ICC World Twenty20 in Bangladesh but will need time off eventually to rest.
Samuels hit an unbeaten 69 off 46 balls which, along with contributions from Dwayne Smith (27 off 18 balls), Chris Gayle (43 off 35) and Andre Russell (24 not out off 15) took the West Indies to 170 for three from their 20 overs after they had chosen to bat. Ravi Bopara (2-23) and James Tredwell (1-16) were the picks of an otherwise disappointing England bowling performance.
The tourists then quickly slipped to 55 for five in their run chase, before ending on 143 for nine as Bopara and Tim Bresnan reduced the margin of defeat, as the West Indies spin trio of Samuel Badree (3-17), Sunil Narine (1-8) and Samuels (2-21) wreaked havoc.
Badree, as usual entrusted with the new ball to deliver his fast leg-breaks, had the returning Alex Hales stumped in his second over and then ensured that Luke Wright’s horror trot continued by having him beaten by a googly and stumped by Denesh Ramdin first ball. His third wicket came in his final over when Michael Lumb top-edged a pull shot to Ravi Rampaul at deep square-leg.
Jos Buttler was caught third ball at short third man by the substitute fielder Johnson Charles off Sunil Narine, attempting a reverse sweep, with Eoin Morgan’s dismissal for 19 to Samuels making it 55 for five in the 10th over. Ben Stokes then lasted just five balls before giving Samuels his second wicket as the scoreline read 73 for six.
Fortunately for England, Bopara and Bresnan at least avoided complete embarrassment. The pair added 28 for the seventh wicket and took the score into three figures before Bopara’s cameo of 42 was brought to an end off his 24th delivery when he skied a catch that was gratefully accepted by the bowler Dwayne Bravo.
Stuart Broad (5) and James Tredwell (1) were both run out but did at least ensure that England batted out their 20 overs alongside Bresnan, who ended on 47 off 29 balls.
An interesting statistic to note is that the spin bowlers on either side returned combined figures of 14-0-62-7, while the seamers ended with 26-0-245-3. If the figures of slow medium-pacer Bopara (4-0-23-2), are added the spin category then the difference becomes even more stark. It may have been even more so had Narine been able to complete his four overs, but he left the field after just two after diving awkwardly.
The trend for the slower bowlers to prosper was apparent in the home side’s innings as Smith and Gayle added 57 for the first wicket inside the first seven overs off the seamers. Smith was finally bowled by Bopara but that just brought eventual man of the match Samuels to the crease. He reached 50 in 37 balls and added 58 in the final 6.4 overs alongside Russell. That included the pair taking 33 runs off the 18th and 19th overs of the innings, bowled by Bresnan and Jade Dernbach.
Tredwell again impressed for England with his off-breaks, returning figures of one for 16 from his four overs, taking the wicket of Chris Gayle for 43 in the process. Bopara was the other wicket-taker, adding Lendl Simmons’ dismissal for three to his earlier one of Smith.
The two teams meet again in the second T20 International on Tuesday, before concluding their preparation for the imminent ICC World T20 with a third match on Thursday.
© Cricket World 2014
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