JONNY Bairstow punished a below-par West Indies with an eye-catching 68 to set up England’s four-wicket win in the first Twenty20 international in St Lucia.
Bairstow’s career-best T20I score came from 40 balls, as England chased down 161 with seven balls left.
The opener fell in the 12th over but Joe Denly’s 30 and 18 from Sam Billings took the tourists to victory.
England’s bowlers had earlier impressed in restricting their hosts to 160-8 with Tom Curran taking 4-36.
Nicholas Pooran hit 58 but England’s Chris Jordan also stood out with the ball with an economical 2-16, including the crucial wicket of Chris Gayle and a stunning caught-and-bowled to remove Darren Bravo.
While England were clinical in the field, West Indies were poor with wayward bowling, dropped catches and careless fielding.
Victory gives England a 1-0 lead in the three-match series going into the second T20 in St Kitts on Friday.
WEST INDIES GIVE ENGLAND HELPING HAND
West Indies have impressed during England’s tour of the Caribbean – winning the Test series 2-1 and drawing the 50-over series 2-2, but this was their worst performance in the field so far.
They battled to a competitive score with the bat but allowed England to get off to a flying start in reply – Alex Hales hitting leg-side deliveries for six and four to begin the chase.
Sheldon Cottrell dismissed Hales with the fifth ball of the innings, but Oshane Thomas then gifted Bairstow boundaries with three leg-stump half-volleys in the following over.
Bairstow continued to hit loose deliveries to the boundary – striking nine fours and two sixes – but was dropped twice during his knock.
Wicketkeeper Shai Hope put the opener down on 34 when he looked to be wrong-footed diving to his right then Cottrell spilled a regulation catch running in from long-off with the Yorkshireman on 52.
The hosts also conceded 23 extras to England’s eight.
West Indies’ errors meant that when Bairstow was eventually caught at deep mid-wicket, attacking spinner Ashley Nurse, England were already well ahead of the required run-rate on 103-4 in the 12th over. (BBC Sport)
