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West Indies 172 for 4 (Smith 70, Bravo 54*, Finn 2-22) v England
Dwayne Smith started West Indies' recovery with 70 © Getty Images
A middle-order flourish from Dwayne Bravo, with a 34-ball fifty, and Kieron Pollard carried West Indies to a very competitive 172 for 4 in the Twenty20 at Trent Bridge. The pair added 65 in less than five overs to build on Dwayne Smith's 70 as the visitors recovered impressively from early trouble after the loss of Chris Gayle in the third over.
After Smith's mature innings, Bravo and Pollard were able to express themselves in the closing overs and they took the sixes tally to the innings to 10 as Jade Dernbach was twice taken for consecutive maximums in his closing spell. The final eight overs of West Indies' innings brought 107 runs (and 64 off the last four) to give them an excellent chance of ending a difficult tour with victory.
Smith crunched five sixes during his 54-ball stay in a responsible innings which played a vital part in ensuring West Indies did not completely lose their way from 30 for 3 in the seventh over. When he struck his fourth six in the 16th over there was a chance he could have reached three figures if he had batted out the innings, but edged a booming drive against Steven Finn who finished with an impressive 2 for 22.
Finn had set a good tone for England with a tight, rapid, opening over during which Gayle twice decided to shoulder arms followed by an attempt to smear him through the leg side. There was a clear plan to bowl short at Gayle and it did not take long for the ploy to work when he top-edged a well-directed bouncer from Finn to fine leg where Jonny Bairstow held a well-judged catch.
Bairstow showed his prowess in the outfield again when he sprinted in from the boundary edge to dive and slide to get underneath Lendl Simmons' pull at deep midwicket. One area where this England Twenty20 side should not suffer is in the field with Baristow, Jos Buttler and Eoin Morgan all outstanding.
The six-over Powerplay brought just 29 runs for West Indies. Graeme Swann then struck with his third delivery with one that gripped to take Marlon Samuels' glove and bobbled through to Craig Kieswetter.
Smith started to locate the boundary again in the ninth over with consecutive blows off Swann and also drove Samit Patel straight drive down the ground, a shot he repeated with even greater distance in Swann's final over. It was superbly controlled striking - not hot-headed slogging - and his third six took him to fifty off 46 balls.
Following Smith's departure Pollard had five overs to make an impression and saw Patel's final over as an opportunity cut loose as it went for 14. It meant England's eight combined overs of spin had cost 66. Bravo, having worked his way to 22 off 24 balls, finished the innings in style as 32 came off his final 12 deliveries with wonderfully clean striking to leave England a little shell-shocked.
Dwayne Smith started West Indies' recovery with 70 © Getty Images
A middle-order flourish from Dwayne Bravo, with a 34-ball fifty, and Kieron Pollard carried West Indies to a very competitive 172 for 4 in the Twenty20 at Trent Bridge. The pair added 65 in less than five overs to build on Dwayne Smith's 70 as the visitors recovered impressively from early trouble after the loss of Chris Gayle in the third over.
After Smith's mature innings, Bravo and Pollard were able to express themselves in the closing overs and they took the sixes tally to the innings to 10 as Jade Dernbach was twice taken for consecutive maximums in his closing spell. The final eight overs of West Indies' innings brought 107 runs (and 64 off the last four) to give them an excellent chance of ending a difficult tour with victory.
Smith crunched five sixes during his 54-ball stay in a responsible innings which played a vital part in ensuring West Indies did not completely lose their way from 30 for 3 in the seventh over. When he struck his fourth six in the 16th over there was a chance he could have reached three figures if he had batted out the innings, but edged a booming drive against Steven Finn who finished with an impressive 2 for 22.
Finn had set a good tone for England with a tight, rapid, opening over during which Gayle twice decided to shoulder arms followed by an attempt to smear him through the leg side. There was a clear plan to bowl short at Gayle and it did not take long for the ploy to work when he top-edged a well-directed bouncer from Finn to fine leg where Jonny Bairstow held a well-judged catch.
Bairstow showed his prowess in the outfield again when he sprinted in from the boundary edge to dive and slide to get underneath Lendl Simmons' pull at deep midwicket. One area where this England Twenty20 side should not suffer is in the field with Baristow, Jos Buttler and Eoin Morgan all outstanding.
The six-over Powerplay brought just 29 runs for West Indies. Graeme Swann then struck with his third delivery with one that gripped to take Marlon Samuels' glove and bobbled through to Craig Kieswetter.
Smith started to locate the boundary again in the ninth over with consecutive blows off Swann and also drove Samit Patel straight drive down the ground, a shot he repeated with even greater distance in Swann's final over. It was superbly controlled striking - not hot-headed slogging - and his third six took him to fifty off 46 balls.
Following Smith's departure Pollard had five overs to make an impression and saw Patel's final over as an opportunity cut loose as it went for 14. It meant England's eight combined overs of spin had cost 66. Bravo, having worked his way to 22 off 24 balls, finished the innings in style as 32 came off his final 12 deliveries with wonderfully clean striking to leave England a little shell-shocked.