Different lineups but same old story for England as they watched Ashes humiliated with drunken T20 vs West Indies

NO, this is not Ashes – this is the format in which England is ranked number 1 in the world.

But England showed that their batting disaster could extend to any kind of game in any country.

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Eoin MorganTheir team were knocked out by the West Indies with nine goals in the first of five Twenty20 games in Barbados.

The games signaled the beginning of England’s team building in the other direction T20 World Cup later this year.

This is the T20 team’s first appearance since being beaten by New Zealand in the semi-finals of the previous World Cup in the UAE in November.

But this is a performance they will want to forget.

England lost four points in their opening match with a six-point lead and were beaten to 103 in the 20th inning.

The Windies may not have had T20 legends like Chris Gayle and Andre Russell but they took the lead with 17 spare balls.

What a contrast to the 50-goal defeat to Ireland earlier this month.

It’s only been a week since England took part in 124 games – including 10 players winning 56 runs – in the final ash test in Hobart.

Wicketkeeper Sam Billings made the 10,000-mile journey between sites and had the dubious honor of performing in both crashes.

Sure, T20 regulars like Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood were laid to rest after the ashes and Jos Buttler broke their fingers.

The pitch has uneven turns and bounces, but the England team has enough experience and quality for them to decline is inexplicable. There has been a string of slight layoffs.

Ironically, it comes after all the soul searching and promises to re-establish red cricket after a 0-4 defeat to Australia. Don’t expect a white ball reset anytime soon!

Jason Roy, who claimed 36 hundred balls in a warm-up, hit a six in the opening game but then missed left-winger Sheldon Cottrell’s impressive follow-up pitch.

Cottrell, who was once a soldier, created his signature celebration of marching a few steps and then saluting.

The almighty Jason Holder let Tom Banton miss and then Moeen Ali lazily drove his first ball back to back. Holder goes back to claim the last two points and finishes with remarkable numbers of 3.4-1-7-4.

Roy described Britain’s total as “embarrassing.”

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James Vince got past 14 but then launched a long jump to cover.

Billings ran down the field, slipped and tripped. Liam Dawson called for a ridiculous short cover and single, which was sent back by Morgan and sold out.

Morgan’s recent bad form continued as he practiced catching the ball for extra cover. He’s managed just 17 times from 29 balls and at 35, England will want to see Morgan recap some tackles in the coming months.

Chris Jordan hit three six and helped England hit triple figures but he struggled to get the results lasting. Saqib Mahmood was caught in the deep middle range and Adil Rashid got his feet tied after attempting a downhill.

He won just one wicket when the Windies flew to their goal and that happened when Rashid lured Shai Hope off the field and Billings completed the header.

Opening Brandon King ended with 52 points not out – easily the highest score of the match.

The second game of the series takes place on Sunday night.