All-round Jordan saves England.

Michael Lumb got England off to a great start
with the bat as they reached 98-0.

England edged a nail-biting fixture in their final T20 encounter with the West Indies, as they held their nerve to earn a five-run victory, giving their T20 World Cup preparations a much-needed boost.

If it hadn’t been for Chris Jordan’s late surge, England may have been facing a score well below par, but the Sussex all-rounder was able to smash four sixes in the final over to rescue England and set the West Indies 166 to win.

The visitors accelerated to 96-0 after 10 overs, with Michael Lumb doing most of the damage as he raced to his fifty in just 27 balls, but was assisted nicely by Nottinghamshire team-mate, Alex Hales who continued to impress after making 40 in the previous fixture.

The first-wicket stand launched the visitors into a confident position and a score of 200 seemed to be on the cards. But England lost six wickets for the addition of just 40 runs as the run rate dropped dramatically.

England reached 98 before losing their first wicket, a rare achievement of late, as the Nottinghamshire duo struck a combined total of 16 boundaries to get the visitors off to a flier.

Lumb top-scored with 63 but his wicket opened up the floodgates as a cluster of wickets fell and the runs dried-up. Hales soon followed for 38 as Sheldon Cottrell claimed the wicket of both of England’s opener’s.

England then lost three wickets for six runs as Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes all fell cheaply and yet another batting collapse unfolded.

Krishmar Santokie returned impressive figures of 2-27 from his allocation, removing Buttler and Stokes after Sunil Narine returned to the squad and dismissed England’s stand-in captain, Morgan.

At 129-5 England’s hard work had been made redundant and were now heading for a mediocre score as the removal of Moeen Ali (3) exacerbated England’s concerns.

With one over to face England were 139-6, but the efforts of Jordan ensured that England would finish in the ascendancy with 26 runs coming from the final over.

The visitors seemed to carry this newfound confidence into their defense, removing the dangerous Dwayne Smith from the first first ball as he played-on to his own stumps off Jade Dernbach.

The absence of Chris Gayle left the West Indies short of aggressive batsmen at the top of their order and his replacement, Johnson Charles, skied the ball back to Jordan as the hosts reached 4-2.

Jordan continued to have a fine day with bat and ball, claiming the wicket of Marlon Samuels (15) and at 28-3 the hosts were struggling to stay in the match.

Thankfully these wickets allowed the more experienced contingent of the West Indies batting line-up to be introduced, but more good bowling from Ravi Bopara halted the host’s recovery.

His spell of 2-28 contained two key wickets, both of which came in the same over, the first, that of Dwayne Bravo and then Andre Russell just four balls later and at 67-5 the match was firmly in English hands.

West Indies desperately needed a contribution from somewhere and the dependable Lendll Simmons obliged with 69 as he and Dinesh Ramdin made 73 for the sixth-wicket stand.

Spinners, Stephen Parry and James Tredwell aided England’s cause as they constricted the flow of runs, a promising sign ahead of the World Cup in Bangladesh.

England retained control of the game but there was always a ten percent chance that the hosts could sneak over the line, particularly with Darren Sammy still to bat.

Barbados-born Jordan returned and gave a professional display with the ball as he and Dernbach ensured that England would not suffer another whitewash.

Jordan removed Ramdin for 33 with a sublime delivery as he claimed 3-39, but this brought Sammy to the crease and the match became tense to say the least.

Striking four off his first ball, captain Sammy gave the home crowd something to cheer about and with 17 runs required from the final over, all three results remained possible.

With three balls to go Sammy smashed Dernbach for six and a wide delivery from the Surrey pace man gave the hosts a chance to win the match if their skipper could strike another maximum from the final ball.

But Dernbach held his nerve and England savored the rare sensation of victory as they crept over the line to beat a tough opponent and earn some credibility before they head to Bangladesh for an even tougher challenge.