ST GEORGE’S (Grenada), Feb 23: Johnson Charles blazed a second consecutive century and Darren Bravo made a maiden limited overs ton as the West Indies routed Zimbabwe by 156 runs to win the first One-day International here on Friday (partly reported in Saturday’s edition).

Man-of-the-Match Charles hammered 130 and Bravo finished on an even, unbeaten 100 to lead the home side to an imposing 337-4 after being put in by Zimbabwe skipper Brendan Taylor.

While there was nothing like the capacity crowd that would have been hoped for on a day declared a national holiday by the newly-elected government of the island, the fans who turned up on a sunny Caribbean day stayed in a celebratory mood throughout.The visitors were limited to just 181-9 in reply, home spinner Sunil Narine leading the bowling effort with three for 28.

Faced with such a formidable target, Zimbabwe went off-course from the outset in slipping to 34-4 by the 11th over, although their first casualty could have been avoided had the lbw verdict against Vusi Sibanda been referred to the television umpire as replays showed Kemar Roach's delivery to be missing leg-stump.

If the fast bowler was fortunate to claim that early scalp, there was no questioning his brilliance in the field when a diving effort at long-on accounted for Zimbabwe's other experienced top-order batsman, Hamilton Masakadza, off Narine.

Malcolm Waller (51) and Craig Ervine (41) gave the tourists a modicum of respectability, although the West Indian intensity had noticeably slackened with the match firmly in their grasp after the bowlers' opening burst.

The second and third games in the series take place at the same venue on Sunday and Tuesday.—AFP

Scoreboard

WEST INDIES: J. Charles b Mpofu    130 K.O.A. Powell c Ervine b Mpofu    79 D.M. Bravo not out    100 A.D. Russell c Chakabva b Mushangwe    4 D.J. Bravo c Chakabva b Jarvis    9 R.R. Sarwan not out    7 EXTRAS (B-2, LB-2, W-3, NB-1)    8 TOTAL (for four wkts, 50 overs)    337 FALL OF WKTS: 1-168, 2-248, 3-266, 4-302. DID NOT BAT: N. Deonarine, D. Ramdin, S.P. Narine, K.A.J. Roach, T.L. Best. BOWLING: Jarvis 10-1-65-1 (1nb); Utseya 10-0-60-0 (1w); Mpofu 10-0-83-2 (1w); Chibhabha 3-0-19-0; Mushangwe 10-2-56-1 (1w); Masakadza 5-0-35-0; Waller 2-0-15-0. ZIMBABWE: V. Sibanda lbw b Roach    12 C.J. Chibhabha c Powell b Narine    6 H. Masakadza c Roach b Narine    4 B.R.M. Taylor c Deonarine b Best    8 C.R. Ervine c Charles b Russell    41 M.N. Waller c sub b D.J. Bravo    51 R.V. Chakabva c Roach b Narine    4 P. Utseya not out    18 K.M. Jarvis b Russell    1 N. Mushangwe b D.J. Bravo    14 C.B. Mpofu not out    0 EXTRAS (B-4, LB-5, W-10, NB-3)    22 TOTAL (for nine wkts, 50 overs)    181 FALL OF WKTS: 1-18, 2-22, 3-31, 4-34, 5-92, 6-115, 7-156, 8-161, 9-181. BOWLING: Roach 8-1-15-1; Best 10-1-38-1 (2nb, 3w); Narine 10-4-28-3; Deonarine 7-1-37-0 (1w); D.J. Bravo 8-0-30-2 (4w); Russell 7-0-24-2 (1nb, 1w). RESULT: West Indies won by 156 runs. UMPIRES: J.S. Wilson (West Indies) and I.J. Gould (England). TV UMPIRE: J.D. Cloete (South Africa). MATCH REFEREE: J. Srinath (India). MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Johnson Charles. SECOND MATCH: Grenada, Sunday. THIRD MATCH: Grenada, Tuesday.