England batted first and scored 182 for six with Jos Butler scoring 30, Alex Hales adding 28 and captain Eoin Morgan unbeaten on 27.

The Windies’ innings got off to a terrible start with Johnson Charles being dismissed for a duck off just the second ball of their innings.

His fellow opener, Chris Gayle, smashed the third fastest century in T20 International history to lead the Calypso Boys across the line.

Gayle reached his ton in just 48 deliveries in an innings which included 5 fours and 11 sixes.

Only South Africa’s Richard Levi and Faf du Plessis have reached three-figures faster than Gayle.

Windies coach, Phil Simmons, compared the ever cool Gayle to cricketing legend, Sir Viv Richards.

Morgan in his turn conceded that they left runs on the park and 200 was definitely on the cards.

He added that they didn’t play to their potential, but nevertheless paid credit where it was due.

England will now turn their attentions to South Africa with a short turn-around before tomorrow’s big clash.

In yesterday’s other game, Pakistan thrashed Bangladesh by 55 runs at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

Pakistan batted first, scoring 201 for 5 with Mohammed Hafeez scoring 64, Ahmed Shehzad scoring 52 and the great Shahid Afridi notching up 49 runs.

The Tigers were restricted to 146 for six with Shakib al Hassan scoring 50 not out.

Both Mohammed Amir and Afridi returned figures of two for 27 in their four overs.

Meanwhile, our boys are wrapping up their preparations for their tournament opener against England tomorrow.

The Proteas’ form in the shortest format of the game of late has been outstanding, and they have beaten both Bangladesh and India in the last year on the subcontinent.

A four-run win over India and an 8-wicket drubbing of the Mumbai Cricket Association XI during the past five days will go a long way to help the confidence.

Strike bowler, Dale Steyn, who didn’t play in the recent T20 series against England, says it is time they gave their loyal fans a World Cup trophy.

Former Australian captain, Ian Chappell, believes that South Africa can break their World Cup hoodoo, but says they need to win it mentally and they need to improve on their play against spin.

He added that leg-spinner, Imran Tahir, will be only one of the Proteas’ most important weapons in their pursuit to a first ever World Cup title.

Tomorrow’s clash at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai gets underway at four o’clock.

Today’s action will see the defending champions, Sri Lanka, lock horns with the impressive qualifiers, Afghanistan.

This clash at Eden Gardens gets underway at four.

And that’s stumps for this edition of The Super Over.

Morgan Piek/OFM News