England 173-3 (Alex Hales 99, Ravi Bopara 59, Ravi Rampaul 2-37) beat West Indies 172-4 (Dwayne Smith 70, Dwayne Bravo 54, Steven Finn 2-22) by seven wickets.

The brilliant Alex Hales blew away the bowling attack of West Indies with his sheer power and Ravi Bopara supported him well as England clinched the only T20.

West Indies piled up 172 runs for the loss of four wickets in the allocated 20 overs as England thrashed 173 runs with eight wickets in hand and two balls to spare.

Alex Hales (England) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his outstanding knock of 99 runs scored off just 68 deliveries.

The only Twenty20 was played on Sunday, June 24, 2012, at Trent Bridge, Nottingham and the packed home crowd enjoyed the fiery batting from the batsmen of the two teams.

Earlier, Darren Sammy, the captain of the West Indies, won the toss and elected to bat on a super fit batting track which invited a lot of runs from the batsmen. They had a horrible start as Steven Finns put them in the corner by taking two quick wickets and the visitors were reeling at 3-30 in 6.2 overs. Their supreme batsman Chris Gayle, Lendl Simmons and Marlon Samuels were sent back to the pavilion one after another.

Dwayne Bravo joined in with the opener Dwayne Smith who was stranded at the one end while the wickets fell at a rapid pace. The duo started the repair work as Smith took charge and got a couple of fours in the 9^th over followed by a six in the next over. Bravo secured one end as Smith rushed to his fifty in the 14^th over by punishing the English skipper, Stuart Broad, for two grand sixes in the 14^th over. Smith was finally dismissed on the second ball of the 16^th over for 70 off 54 balls with the assistance of 5 towering sixes and even fours.

The third wicket was lost at 107 in 15.2 overs when the hard hitting Kieron Pollard came in the centre and the rate of scoring was enhanced instantly. They gathered 14 runs in the 17^th over and 18 in the following over with two sixes from Bravo who achieved his fifty in the final over. The Windies stormed to 172 runs after 20 overs, Dwayne Bravo was unbeaten for 54 off 36 deliveries comprising 3 sixes and 1 four whereas Kieron Pollard hit 23 from 13 deliveries with two sixes and one four.

Steven Finn was the major wicket taker with two as Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann held one wicket each.

England lost their first wicket at 10 runs in 2.1 overs when Ravi Bopara walked in and connected with Alex Hales who hit the first six of the England’s innings in the third over. Hales was the most aggressive of the two, he was sending the ball flying and reeling over the rope frequently and attained his fifty with a six over long on in the 9^th over.

The run rate was enhanced by the two as Bopara also joined the race of scoring at will and Hales had no mercy for the rival bowlers. The boundaries kept on flowing from the bats of the two batsmen and Bopara hit two fours in the 16^th over and completed his fifty on the first ball of the 19^th over with a four.

Alex Hales was unlucky to miss his ton by just one run when he was clean bowled by Ravi Rampaul. His 99 runs were accomplished while facing 68 deliveries with the assistance of 4 mighty sixes and 6 sweetly timed fours. He also contributed a 159 runs match winning partnership for the second wicket. The second wicket fell at 169 runs and two runs later, Ravi Bopara was gone after smashing 59 runs off 44 balls with 1 six and 4 fours.

England achieved the target on the fourth ball of the final over when Eoin Morgan collected two runs and the home team triumphed by seven wickets.

Ravi Rampaul was the most impressive bowler and claimed two wickets whereas Marlon Samuels got one.