Hick guides England Masters to easy win

Graeme Hick's stroke-filled, unbeaten 77 guided England Masters to a comprehensive seven-wicket win with five balls to spare over West Indies Masters in the Cricket Legends of Barbados International Cup.

Needing 137 to win, England sealed victory when Paul Nixon reserve-swept Jimmy Adams for a boundary. Nixon made 23 and added 66 with Hick for the unbroken fourth wicket in 7.1 overs. Hick faced 51 balls and set up the run-chase through a 69-run stand with Mark Ramprakash, after openers Mark Alleyne and Craig White were dismissed cheaply, both caught-behind by Courtney Browne. Ramprakash made 29 with two fours from 37 balls before he was also caught by Browne, attempting to pull.

Hick batted like a man possessed, playing lovely strokes on both sides of the wicket. He struck five fours and four sixes, one of which raised the hundred in the 16th over off Ian Bradshaw. He smashed the next ball straight down the ground for another six at the Joel Garner end.

West Indies Masters were earlier restricted to 136 for seven, a disappointing effort after an opening stand of 41 in 5.2 overs between Gordon Greenidge, who made an unbeaten 61, and Stuart Williams.

Williams looked in good nick striking 25 with four boundaries before he was caught-behind off Dean Headley's second ball. Headley took two for 18 from four overs to choke the run rate as West Indies suffered a middle-order slump, losing four wickets for 47 runs in 9.2 overs.

Greenidge, who always relished batting against England in his playing days, hit a number of fine strokes including his trademark square cut off Darren Gough that raced to the backward-point boundary.

Towards the end, he found a useful partner in Vasbert Drakes and they put on 48 in 32 deliveries for the seventh wicket. Greenidge upped the tempo in the death overs, hitting the first two sixes of the match off John Emburey in the 18th over that produced 23 runs. The first was dispatched over wide long-on and the next went over square-leg into a crowd of around 6000.

At the half-way mark of both innings, the scores were identical at 60 for 2. England managed to keep wickets in hand in the second half of their innings and that proved to be the difference between victory and defeat.