Dream Start For England, Horror Show For Windies In ODI Series Opener

The First ODI match against England came rapidly for the West Indies, as the Ireland series was just concluded days prior. Winning the toss, the Windies team elected to have a bowl first in foreign conditions. This move seemed to have backfired as during the initial 10 overs the England openers were scoring as freely and as quickly as they could without playing risky shots.

It started with Jamie Smith and Ben Duckett taking a liking to opening bowlers Jayden Seales and Matthew Forde, until the senior statesman appeared. Alzarri Joseph came in and removed Jamie Smith just 13 runs short of a 50-run milestone that was much needed for him as he seeks a good run of form in the white ball version of the international game.

Justin Greaves’ introduction to the attack proved successful almost immediately, as he removed the in-form Ben Duckett, who had a lusty 60 (48) but was stopped by an acrobatic one-handed catch by none other than Roston Chase.

After being expensive for the major part of his first 4 overs, Jayden Seales struck as he removed the England pioneer Joe Root, who nicked the ball straight to the keeper going for an extravagant cover drive. Root was removed for a 57 (65) that sneaked up on the West Indies team in his usual fashion. By the 30th over, the England side continued their comfort and dominance by surpassing 200 runs, with the newly elected England captain also leading the charge at this stage with a brisk 50, just before he was removed by Seales for 58 (45) with another brilliant catch in the field, but this time from Carty.

After this fans received the introduction of Barbadian-born Jacob Bethell who played a mature knock of 82 (53), for the home team as he anchored England in the last few overs of the game but fell short of his personal 3 figure milestone. Jacks on the other-hand departed with about 2 overs to go with a well-played 39 (24), to make it the first time an England team had everyone in the top 7 of the batting lineup score over 30 in One-day Internationals.

With 400 runs staring them down as England finished on 400/8 after their 50 overs, the West Indies had a mammoth task in undertaking these runs. The West Indies innings began in a familiar fashion, with both openers departing before the completion of 5 overs. This left Shai Hope and Keacy Carty to rebuild the innings even before the innings even had a chance to settle. That though, was short-lived, as both batters were removed by dangerous seamer Mahmood, bringing Amir Jangoo and youngster Jewel Andrew to the crease.

With Jewel Andrew not leaving an impact on the game, the highly anticipated Chase entered and exited the field with 9(13) after failing to keep his pull shot effort on the ground. Lusty blows from Motie and Seales seemed promising but didn’t do much to help the West Indies, as they then went on to be bowled out for the minor score of 162, just batting about half of the 50 overs. England therefore, went on to win the first Odi match in Edgbaston by 238 runs. Just like the Ireland series West Indies have started on the negative side of things, but fans will stay optimistic as the second and third Odi are still there to be played.

-Timothy Thompson