Bairstow, bowlers help England register win in first T20

Jonny Bairstow. Pic/AFP

St Lucia: Bowlers helped England restrict Windies to just 160 runs in the first T20 and Jonny Bairstow's knock of 68 runs helped the team to chase the target comfortably, resulting in a victory over Windies by four wickets.

Tom Curran picked up his career-best figures of four for 36 runs, while Adil Rashid(1-15) and Chris Jordan(2-16) were economical in their spells, restricting the Windies to just 160 runs in St Lucia today.

Nicolas Pooran scored the maximum runs for Windies as he struck a quickfire knock of 58 off just 37 deliveries. But the team kept on losing wickets at regular intervals and were deprived of any kind of momentum in their innings.

In the pursuit of 160 runs, England lost Alex Hales(11) and Joe Root(0) inside the first three overs, but Bairstow kept on hitting boundaries and the team was in a comfortable position at the end of the powerplay.

Bairstow who hit a knock of 68 runs off just 40 deliveries, hit 9 fours and two sixes. He stitched together a partnership of 51 runs with England's skipper Eoin Morgan in which the captain was only able to score eight runs.

The 29-year-old opening batsman fell to Ashley Nurse but Joe Denly (30) and Sam Billings(18) ensured that the team does not suffer any more hiccups. Both of them shared a half-century stand and took the team to a comfortable position.

Sheldon Cottrell was the only bowler Windies bowler who was able to record impressive figures, he ended up taking three wickets in the match. Windies also suffered as they conceded 23 extras.

Windies would look to rectify the errors of this match and go into the second T20 looking to level the series. West Indies takes on England in the second T20 of the three-match series on Saturday, March 09 at St Kitts.

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