Holder bowled 15 dots and took 2 wickets in the PowerPlay. © AFP
West Indies piggybacked on Jason Holder's exceptional PowerPlay bowling - with 15 dots, including a maiden over, and 2 wickets, to leave England wounded early in the opening T20I in Barbados. Even as James Vince went after Sheldon Cottrell to make up for the control that Holder exerted from the other end, England limped to 26 for 4 in six overs and never managed to recover entirely from there. In fact, at 49 for 7, they ran a real risk of succumbing to a sub-100 total, but Chris Jordan and Adil Rashid did just about enough to get them past the three-figure mark. That, of course, was a mere consolation as West Indies cantered to a nine-wicket victory in chase of England 103.

Jason Roy's attempt to throw caution to the winds in the very first over saw him trudge back off the sixth ball and put the visitors on shaky grounds early. Holder doubled up to snuff out Tom Banton and Moeen Ali off successive balls in the second over - both falling prey to sharp outswingers. Eoin Morgan played out the hat-trick ball in Holder's following over and even survived an on-field call against him with a review, but England were struggling at 10 for 3 after four overs.

The post-PowerPlay period didn't start off great for England either as Sam Billings - looking to end England's struggle - gave Akeal Hossain the charge and walked back stumped for 2 off 4. Between 4.5 and 11.3, England couldn't find the boundary even once, while Morgan's attempt to plot a recovery was falling apart with wickets tumbling around him. In the 12th over, he broke the shackles, gave Romario Shepherd the charge and smashed one over deep cover for six. He then became the third batsman to fall on the ball right after hitting a six, failing to keep his drive down on an off cutter from Shepherd.

Rashid and Jordan gave England a much-needed lift with an eighth-wicket stand worth 36 valuable runs off 29 deliveries. Jordan pulled short balls, saw through a change of pace and largely looked in control during his stay, while Rashid rode a bit of luck before having to take over once Jordan departed. He got a couple of boundaries against Kieron Pollard and Fabian Allen, and was primed to maximize in the final over, only for Holder to return and take out Saqib Mahmood with a cutter and knock back Rashid's leg stump to end England's essay on 103.

West Indies had a contrasting PowerPlay, comfortably getting to 37/0 at the end of it, and dwarfing their already paltry target. Rashid found a way to break through in the 10th over by getting Shai Hope out stumped, but that's as far as England could get with the ball. After Hope, Brandon King proceeded to put on another half-century stand, this time with Nicholas Pooran. En route this unbroken alliance, the West Indies opener got to his half-century - an innings laced with comfort, caution and, four fours and a six.

Nicholas Pooran was much of the same in his 29-ball 27 as West Indies polished off the chase in the 18th over with nine wickets and 17 balls to spare.

Brief Scores: England 103 in 19.4 overs (Chris Jordan 28, Adil Rashid 22; Jason Holder 4-7) lost to West Indies 104/1 in 17.1 overs (Brandon King 52*, Nicholas Pooran 27*) by 9 wickets.