England continued their mastery of the West Indies by winning their Twenty20 series opener by 21 runs. After dominating the West Indies in three one-day internationals, England were expected to receive a tougher fight from the visitors, higher-rated in T20s than ODIs, bolstered by World Cup champions Andre Russell, Jason Holder and Johnson Charles.

But the West Indies didn’t have World No. 2-ranked T20 bowler Akeal Hosein who, along with batter Jyd Goolie, was unable to travel to England because of recent changes to UK visa entry requirements for Trinidad and Tobago citizens. Hosein was badly missed on a pitch that suited spin.

The match-winner was left-arm spinner Liam Dawson, recalled by England after being out of action for nearly three years at the age of 35. He’d taken six wickets in 11 T20s from 2016-22, but produced a career-best 4-20 in four overs. Dawson took out Charles, Sherfane Rutherford, Roston Chase and Rovman Powell, four of the top six batters. He and fellow spinner Adil Rashid, 1-22, helped to choke a deep West Indies lineout to 167-9 in a chase of 189.

Under England’s brand new T20 captain Harry Brook, the old captain Jos Buttler set up a defendable total with 96 runs off 59 balls. Buttler worked the field so well that he looked set to achieve his second T20 hundred in his 135th match. But he moved across while facing Alzarri Joseph and was beaten for pace and out lbw in the 19th over. He hit six boundaries and four sixes.

West Indies spinner Gudakesh Motie did much to haul in England, his four overs conceding only 21 runs, 15 of them to Buttler. But Motie had only Chase as spin support, and Buttler devoured the pacers.