Bridgetown: West Indies returned to winning ways in the shortest variety, defeating England by 27 runs in the first T20 International of a three-match series at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown. Marlon Samuels, the star when the Caribbean side defeated Sri Lanka in the final of the last World T20 in Colombo 17 months ago, led the home team's effort with an unbeaten 69 as the West Indies totalled a competitive 170 for three on Sunday.
Samuels finished off a good afternoon's work in front of a celebratory full house with two wickets to seal the man of the match award. Wrist-spinner Samuel Badree put the tourists on the back foot early on with three wickets and although all-rounders Tim Bresnan (47 not out) and Ravi Bopara (42) made useful contributions, England were always struggling to keep up with the required rate and were restricted to 143 for nine.
"We didn't get going today but that's something that can happen in Twenty20 cricket, especially when you're chasing a decent score," said England captain Stuart Broad. "It's certainly not something to panic about." Broad did suggest however that he is likely to miss the remaining two matches of the series on Tuesday and Thursday because of tendonitis in his knee.
For the West Indies, the celebrations over a victory that sends a message to all challengers for their World T20 title in Bangladesh later in the month would have been tempered by concerns over the fitness of ace spinners Sunil Narine and Badree
