West Indies 209-2 (Chris Gayle 85*, Kieron Pollard 63*, Kane Williamson 1-21) beat New Zealand 153 all out (Rob Nicol 32, Jacob Oram 27, Sunil Narine 3-34) by 56 runs.

Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard disgraced New Zealand bowling in the opening T20 as West Indies triumphed in the opening game held at Lauderhill, Florida.

West Indies hammered 209 runs for the loss of just two wickets in the allotted 20 overs and New Zealand was bowled out for 153 runs with 9 balls to spare.

Chris Gayle (West Indies) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his majestic unbeaten knock of 85 scored of just 52 balls.

The first Twenty20 of the two match series was played on Saturday, June 30, 2012, at Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground, Lauderhill, Florida (a neutral venue). Quite a few local cricket fans and ex patriates from both countries enjoyed the exciting batting of the Windies top guns.

Earlier, the skipper of New Zealand, Ross Taylor, won the toss and offered the batting to West Indies and the innings was initiated by Dwayne Smith and Chris Gayle. Smith opted for attack from the word ‘go’ and dispatched a couple of sixes in the opening over. surprisingly Gayle scored just two runs in the next over. The openers contributed 27 runs in four overs when Smith was clean bowled by Doug Bracewell for 17 as Johnson Charles appeared on the scene and got 3 fours in the next two overs.

The first fifty of the innings was posted in the 8^th over and Gayle scored 15 runs off 22 balls he faced until then. He opened up in the 11^th over with two fours followed by a six in the next over as Charles carried on consolidating from the other end. The second wicket association created 74 runs in 9.1 overs as Johnson Charles lost his wicket for 24.

The hard hitting Kieron Pollard joined in next with Gayle and started off with two grand sixes and never looked back after that. Chris Gayle attained his fifty in the 16^th over and Pollard followed him in the 19^th over. The duo powered 26 runs in the 19th over with three mighty sixes from Gayle and one from Pollard. The last over produced 15 runs with 3 fours as West Indies piled up 209 runs with eight wickets in hand at the end of the 20^th over.

Chris Gayle remained unbeaten for a mammoth 85 off 52 balls with 5 gigantic sixes and 7 fours whereas Kieron Pollard held the other end for 63 from 29 mere deliveries which comprised 5 mega sixes and even fours.

The Kiwis opened the innings with Rob Nicol and Martin Guptill as they went after the bowling by accumulating 37 runs in the first four overs. Guptill became the first victim after scoring 11 runs and Ross Taylor continued the attack by getting two fours in the 6^th over. Taylor got retired hurt after scoring 10 runs as Kane Williamson replaced him in the centre but the Caribbean skipper, Darren Sammy got rid of him for 10 runs.

Rob Nicol tried to escalate the run rate but went back to the pavilion for 32 off 31 balls with 5 fours and the Black Caps lost their third wicket at 84 in 11.1 overs. The wickets kept on sliding as the Windies bowlers bowled to their line and length as the runs chasing became difficult for the Kiwi batsmen. Jacob Oram and Tim Southee were the other two batsmen who contributed 27 and 23 runs respectively as the innings of New Zealand was squeezed for 153 runs in 18.3 overs.

Sunil Narine was the most successful bowler with three wickets whereas Fidel Edwards, Sammy and Dwayne Bravo shared one wicket each.

West Indies won the first T20 by a huge margin of 56 runs and are leading the two match series 1-0 whereas the second game will be played at the same venue on July 1, 2012.