Man-of-the-Match Jason Holder and Brandon King shone with the ball and bat respectively, as the West Indies defeated England by nine wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match Betway T20 International Series at the Kensington Cricket Ground in Barbados on Saturday (January 22).

Holder, the former West Indies captain, took career-best T20 bowling figures of 4-7 in 3.4 overs as West Indies bowled England out for 103 in 19.4 overs. King then scored an unbeaten 52 as the West Indies, needing 104 for victory, cruised to 104-1 in 17.1 overs.

After skipper Kieron Pollard won the toss and invited England to bat, England quickly stumbled to 26-4 in the Powerplay. Sheldon Cottrell (2-30) bowled Jason Roy for six in the first over and Holder then claimed Tom Banton and Moeen Ali in successive deliveries to have the visitors struggling at 10-3 at the end of the third over.

Two overs later, it was 24-4 as Cottrell dismissed James Vince for 14 after the batter took him for 14 runs in the over.

Barbados-born all-rounder Chris Jordan ensured that England got past the 100-run mark, hitting three sixes in his 23-ball 28 to drag England from 49-7 in the 12th over while Adil Rashid chipped in with 23 off 18 balls.

Holder’s return marked a quick end to the England innings, however, dismissing Sadiq Mahmood, who hoisted an attempted pull to Fabian Allen and then sent Rashid’s middle stump cartwheeling with successive deliveries.

King and Shai Hope shared in an opening partnership of 52 before Hope was drawn from his crease and stumped off leg-spinner Rashid in the 10th over.

The 27-year-old Jamaican and Nicholas Pooran then staged an unbroken second-wicket stand of 52 to see the home side to victory. Pooran cracked two fours in scoring an unbeaten 27 from 29 balls.

Coming off the recently embarrassing 2-1 ODI loss to Ireland, Pollard was encouraged by the performance.

“That’s the blueprint we ask guys to put up. Really happy for the guys. To come out and win a match isn’t easy, to see the young guys come out and finish it off was fantastic,” he said.

“Sheldon coming back in, Jason showed his quality. These two bowlers were phenomenal, and then backing it up in the field. Sometimes when you get four wickets early guys can relax, but they know the importance of sticking to plans. This is just the first of five, but winning games isn’t easy at all. Brandon King did well in Pakistan, and being able to finish the game is something we’re trying to inculcate.”

Holder expressed his satisfaction with his performance with the ball.

“I was happy to see the ball go through the way it did. In the Caribbean these days, sometimes you struggle to see the ball go through like that. We had a really perfect day to be honest. It’s not much I can really pinpoint that we did wrong. The challenge is being consistent and repeating it tomorrow.”

The two teams meet again today (Sunday) in the second match of the Betway T20 Series at the same venue. The match is set to bowl off at 3:00 pm Jamaica Time.