Published: Mar 04, 2017, 04:59 AM (IST)
Edited: Mar 04, 2017, 10:13 AM (IST)
Riding on Eoin Morgan’s 10th One-Day International (ODI) hundred, followed by Liam Plunkett and Chris Woakes’ four-for each, England completed a comprehensive 45-run victory over West Indies at Antigua. Initially, England who were put into bat and they made a poor start. But England were revived by Morgan’s innings of 107 off 116 deliveries, which took their total to a daunting 296. In reply, West Indies were skittled out for 251 in 47.2 overs as Woakes and Plunkett shared 8 wickets between them to help England take lead in the three-game ODI series. Let us have a look at the highlights which caught the attention in this riveting encounter, by Rohan A. Sawant: FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: West Indies vs England – 1st ODI
Shannon Gabriel’s low-bounce rattling: Gabriel has a lot of speed on offer, but control is key and he looked like lacking it completely. He kept bowling huge no balls. The margin of error was not something which could have been ignored easily; he was landing his front leg rather way ahead of the crease. England were going strong; Jason Roy in particular. But Gabrie got the first breakthrough. He bowled straight, kept his line in the line of the wickets and rapped Roy on the pads. The ball did not bounce as Roy would have anticipated, but the damage was done.
In came Joe Root, who was recently appointed England Test team captain owing to his phenomenal run. He tucked 4 singles of 4 deliveries and the fifth delivery he faced cleaned him up. Gabriel had castled the England batting mainstay with a peach of a delivery. The ball stayed a bit low again, but Root was undone by the extra pace too.
Dropped: West Indies were dominating the proceedings. Gabriel had taken 2 wickets — important scalps in form of Roy and Root. But when Morgan came in to bat, Jason Holder, his counterpart got Carlos Brathwaite into the attack.
It was Brathwaite’s first delivery. Brathwaite bowled a fuller length delivery outside off. Morgan couldn’t resist the temptation and drove but without any foot movement. So all he could do was manage a healthy edge. Wicketkeeper Shai Hope dived to his left despite the ball going straight towards Kieran Powell at first slip. The ball was out of the reach of Hope, who in the process, came in the front of Powell and the ball just popped out of the first slip’s hand. Had that catch been taken, England would have fallen 103 runs short of their 296.
Captain Morgan to the rescue: The wicket was sluggish due to rainfall the previous night and Morgan struggled initially taking seven deliveries to get going. But once he got the idea of what the wicket at North Sound was like, he played maturely. He began with playing a second-fiddle to Sam Billings, who looked in a great touch after initial faltering. With Billings, he scored 67 runs at around 4.72 runs per over. But Billings departed throwing away his wicket.
Next to come was Jos Buttler. Before these two could gather some runs together, Buttler walked back.
Then came Ben Stokes. By this time, Morgan had set his eyes on the wicket. He never looked panic-stricken when runs were hard to come. He dealt in singles and doubles. He laid a strong foundation to go all out against the West Indies bowlers in the death overs.
Morgan, along with Stokes, added 110 in 112 deliveries. When Stokes got out, he took up the charge and bashed the West Indian bowlers. Morgan had a different level of confidence and which was evident in the way he celebrated after reaching the three-figure mark (fifth as captain; surpassing Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook who have four each).
Counterattack: West Indies have power-packed batsmen; perhaps much better than England on their day. But they lack experience, and it was evident in the first ODI as well. The hosts lose 3 wickets — Evin Lewis, Powell and Kraigg Brathwaite in a space of 3 runs. Hope and Jason Mohammed were the two new batsmen with a daunting task in hand. Yet they persisted putting up 69 runs in 77 deliveries. But Hope threw away his wicket. In came Jonathan Carter.
Mohammed was playing exceptionally well. He needed a partner who could score runs at the same pace as he was; or maybe much faster. But Carter found it was tough to to put his bat on the ball. This continued for some time. It was just in time that Carter flourished. He came down the track against Joe Root and absolutely belted. He hit the ball out of the park which was never found again. He took 2 runs the next delivery and reverse-swept for a four. Carter looked unstoppable then. In a matter of an over or two, he was the aggressor in this vital 82-run stand wrecking havoc in England camp.
The target which looked far from distant at one point looked possible to reach. But the hopes were only to be washed out by Jason Roy, who pulled off an absolute stunner to send Carter walking back.
No bowling show from Ben Stokes: England had the game in their court early in the second innings. But the 69 and 82-run stand for the fourth and fifth wicket respectively seemed to have pulled the game away from them. English pacers were tried in several combinations but it was of no use. Adil Rashid and Moeen looked futile. Stokes was expected to bowl, but he did not bowl a single over. There was no Carlos Brathwaite on strike during these partnerships but Stokes remained off the attack.
