Published: Mar 04, 2017, 03:35 AM (IST)
Edited: Mar 04, 2017, 09:35 AM (IST)
England defeated West Indies by 47 runs in the first One-Day International (ODI) at Antigua. For England, Chris Woakes (4 for 47) and Liam Plunkett (4 for 40) played major role in taking England over the line. Apart from the pace duo, spinner Adil Rashid got one wicket. Eoin Morgan, the England skipper, was adjudged Man of the Match for his stunning hundred (107 off 116) in the first innings that propelled visitors to a dominating total of 296. At one point Jonathan Carter (52) and Jason Mohammed (72) were going strong taking the game away from the visitors, but Woakes and Finn kept their cool and stuck to their gameplan. LIVE CRICKET SCORECARD, West Indies vs England – 1st ODI
In their bid to chase 297, West Indies opener Evin Lewis and Kraigg Brathwaite got off to a steady start. Straight away they decided to go after Chris Woakes, dealing in boundaries. Seeing this, Morgan made a couple of changes in the first 10 overs, introducing Joe Root in the 6th over. The bowling change reduced the the run rate. To add West Indies to further trouble, Woakes was again brought in to attack. It was in the 10th over that Woakes was rewarded with Lewis’ wicket.
Woakes varied his pace and bowled an off-cutter that forced Lewis to heave one in the air. However, the change in pace deceived Lewis as he holed an easy catch to Sam Billings at deep square-leg. When Lewis departed, West Indies had just 36 runs on the board.
Kieran Powell (1 off 5), who walked in to bat at No. 3, lasted only 5 deliveries. It was a back-of-length delivery from Woakes that bit the track. Powell was early into his shot and tried working it down to deep square-leg for a single, instead getting a leading edge to Jason Roy at point.
And just before the hosts could steady themselves from having lost 2 quick wickets, opener Brathwaite (4 off 26) departed 6 deliveries later. West Indies lost their top three batsmen in a matter of 3 runs, bringing down their team to 39 for 3.
Shai Hope walked in this precarious situation with a steep mountain to climb along with Jason Mohammed. But these two batted responsibly. They first made sure of applying brakes to batting collapse. Moreover, they kept the scoreboard ticking dealing in ones and twos. This helped the hosts climb out of a tough spot and reach a decent total.
But with the asking run-rate climbing high, both these batsmen decided to up the ante. They went all guns blazing against the English spinners Moeen Ali and Rashid. But against the run of play, Hope sliced a short and wide delivery from Rashid straight to Steven Finn at backward-point. This brought an end to the 69-run stand for the fourth wicket.
Jonathan Carter walked in at tough position, as West Indies were 108 for 4 in 25 overs with a lot of work still to be done. He had a good partner in the form of Mohammed who looked calm under pressure. Carter looked awkward initially not being able to lay bat on the ball. In the meantime, at the other end, Mohammed continued playing big shots easing the pressure off his partner.
Mohammed got to his maiden fifty, keeping the West Indies hopes alive. It was only a matter of time that Carter great guns. His big shots resulted in Morgan making change in bowling and getting in Plunkett and Finn. Carter eventually got to his third ODI fifty off just 44 deliveries, consisting of 4 cracking boundaries and 2 huge sixes.
But the bowling change worked for England with Carter’s wicket. Jason Roy took an exceptional catch. This wicket also saw 82-run stand for the fifth wicket from 83 deliveries coming to an end. West Indies were 190 for 5 when they lost Carter. They needed 107 runs off 70 deliveries.
But the England pacers displayed some great pace variations in last 12 overs and were rewarded with Jason Holder (4 off 7), Carlos Brathwaite (12 off 12), Ashley Nurse (21 off 15) and Shannon Gabriel (0 off 4) departed, eventually getting all out on 251 in 47.2 overs handing England a 45-run victory.
Initially riding on captain Morgan’s 10th One-Day International century, England posted a challenging total of 296 for the loss of 6 wickets at the end of 50 overs. Morgan was well supported first by opener Billings (52 off 56), then Ben Stokes (55 off 61) and lastly by Moeen Ali who remained unbeaten on 31 off 22 deliveries. West Indies got off to an excellent start getting wickets early on, but some vital partnerships saw the game taken away from the hosts. For West Indies camp, pacer Shannon Gabriel and spinner Ashley Nurse took 2 wickets each while Devendra Bishoo got 1.
England now lead the three-match ODI series by 1-0 with the second game to be played at the same venue on March 5, with the last to be played on March 9 at Barbados.
Brief scores:
England 296/6 in 50 overs (Sam Billings 52, Eoin Morgan 107, Ben Stokes 55; Shannon Gabriel 2 for 58, Ashley Nurse 2 for 57) won vs West Indies 251 all out in 47.2 overs (Jason Mohammed 72, Jonathan Carter 52; Liam Plunkett 4 for 40, Chris Woakes 4 for 47) by 45 runs.
