Man-of-the-match Charles struck 84 off 56 balls and Gayle 58 off 35 in West Indies’ imposing total of 179 for five but England recovered from losing two wickets in the opening over to get close to chasing down their target.
Eoin Morgan finished unbeaten on 71 and Alex Hales made 68, the pair sharing a third-wicket partnership of 107 but, needing 23 runs off the final over, the defending champions fell short.
Charles and Gayle put together an opening stand of 103 for West Indies after their captain Darren Sammy had won the toss.
Sri Lanka beat New Zealand in a super over after the opening match in the group had ended in a tie.
179 for 5 (20.0 overs) |
164 for 4 (20.0 overs) |
Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | |||
| Charles | c Bairstow | b Dernbach | 84 | 56 | 10 | 3 |
| Gayle | c Finn | b Swann | 58 | 35 | 6 | 4 |
| Samuels | c Morgan | b Broad | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| Pollard | c Wright | b Finn | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Dwayne Bravo | not out | 11 | 8 | 2 | 0 | |
| Sammy | b Broad | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Russell | not out | 10 | 5 | 2 | 0 | |
| Extras | 1w 1b 7lb | 9 | ||||
| Total | for 5 | 179 | (20.0 ovs) | |||
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Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | |||
| Kieswetter | c Pollard | b Rampaul | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Hales | st Ramdin | b Samuels | 68 | 51 | 5 | 2 |
| Wright | c Gayle | b Rampaul | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Bairstow | c Pollard | b Gayle | 18 | 29 | 2 | 0 |
| Morgan | not out | 71 | 36 | 4 | 5 | |
| Buttler | not out | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Extras | 4w 1b 1lb | 6 | ||||
| Total | for 4 | 164 | (20.0 ovs) | |||
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Umpires: Asad Rauf, S J Davis, J Srinath, Aleem Dar
England: Kieswetter (W), Hales, Wright, Morgan, Bairstow, Buttler, Patel, Broad (C), Swann, Finn, Dernbach
West Indies: Charles, Gayle, Samuels, Dwayne Bravo, Pollard, Ramdin (W), Russell, Sammy (C), Narine, Rampaul, Badree