Jos Buttler put on a display in front of a strong crowd at Banks Homes Riverside as his destructive 96 from 59 balls helped England to a comfortable 21-run IT20 win against the West Indies.
Buttler’s thrilling knock led the way for England after Jamie Smith’s brisk 38 from 20 deliveries had England off to a flyer. Buttler took the reins, striking 10 boundaries to take the hosts to 188 for six.
Liam Dawson then showed why he was awarded an international recall, claiming a quartet of wickets on his England comeback with standout figures of 4-20.
West Indies had some hope approaching the midway stage of their innings as Evin Lewis (39) and Roston Chase (24) blasted 58 from 29 balls but Jacob Bethell’s breakthrough on the cusp of 10 overs set England on their way.
Harry Brook opted to bat in his first game as England T20 captain and his side got off to a flying start as Smith blasted three boundaries in the opening over.
Romario Shepherd caught Ben Duckett’s leading edge in the following over to claim the first of his two wickets before England began to score at a rate of knots.
The hosts made 45 from the final two powerplay overs- Buttler striking 31 of those, as they raced to 78 from six overs.
In England’s most fruitful partnership of the evening, they made 79 from just 40 balls, with their former white ball captain racing to his 26th T20 international fifty inside 25 balls.
The visitors then put the dampeners on with three wickets in five overs.
Smith clubbed to Sherfane Rutherford for Shepherd’s second; Roston Chase then bowled Brook and Tom Banton fell lbw to Andre Russell, despite calling for a review with the umpire’s call upheld.
At 116 for four, Jacob Bethell played second fiddle to Buttler as his innings of power and craft continued. He looked set for his second England T20 century before being wrapped on the knee roll by Alzarri Joseph.
England had scored 176 when Buttler fell in the penultimate over and managed to add a further 12 by the halfway stage with Bethell unbeaten for a run-a-ball 23.
Johnson Charles helped West Indies to 27 but fell stumped to Dawson in the fourth over and by the time Matthew Potts had visiting captain Shai Hope caught cheaply for his maiden IT20 scalp, it looked like a long chase for the Caribbean side on 33 for two after 5.2 overs.
Lewis was superbly caught by Brydon Carse on the stroke of the innings’ midway point before Dawson firmly put the brakes on the visitors’ chase with a pair of wickets in the 12th over, having Rutherford and Chase both caught at long-on by Duckett. The left-arm spinner accounted for Rovman Powell’s wicket in his following over.
When Adil Rashid and Bethell took one each in consecutive overs, the writing was on the wall with West Indies requiring 59 from 23.
Potts grabbed a second T20 scalp in England colours on the final ball as England sealed a 21-run win.