1st ODI England v India at Trent Bridge July 12th

1st ODI England v India at Trent Bridge July 12th

Neil Whitaker reports

KULEEP  Yadav took  six for 25 the best figures by a visiting spinner in an ODI against England in England as India beat England by eight wickets with nearly 10 overs to spare at Trent Bridge to take a one nil lead in the three match series.

The left arm leg spinner Kuldeep who bamboozled England in the first T20 at Emirates Old Trafford when he took five for 24 did it again in the at Trent Bridge.  In his first spell he took three wickets for five runs in 10 balls.  He came on to bowl in the 11th over and he struck with his second ball.   Jason Roy toe ended a reverse sweep off him and the ball looped to Suresh Raina at cover.  India skipper Virat

Kohli immediately brought in a leg slip and in Kuldeep’s next over Joe Root played back to him, played down the wrong line and was leg before.  Kuldeep got his third wicket when Jonny Bairstow didn’t pick him and was hit on the pads.  Umpire Ruchira Palliyaguruge didn’t give him out but Kohli reviewed it and showed it to be hitting leg stump.

Kuleep got his fourth wicket when MS Dhoni took a brilliant legside catch to get rid of JosButtler.  Buttler and Ben Stokes had added 93 in 19 overs with Buttler easily outscoring Stokes.  When Buttler came into bat, Stokes had faced 20 balls, when the partnership was broken Stokes was on 42.  

Kuleep said: “At 71 for none we were hoping for a wicket because we needed a breakthrough and luckily for me I got three wickets which changed the course of the game. At the moment I am enjoying English conditions.

I just bowl wicket to wicket and alter my variations.  I am hoping for a Test call but we’ll just see what happens in the next couple of days.”

England were three down in the 13th over when Stokes joined his skipper Eoin Morgan.  With the arrival of Stokes, Kohli brought on off spinner Raina to bowl at the two left handers.  Morgan rocked back to Raina and lofted him to the mid wicket boundary for the first boundary to be scored off Raina.  But when he was beaten in the flight from Yuzvendra Chahal he gently chipped him to Raina at mid wicket.  In the previous over from Hardik Pandya he had hit him for a six and a four off consecutive balls as England strove to increase their run rate.

Stokes’ innings was even more circumspect than the innings he played seven days ago against Yorkshire Vikings. He hit his first four of his innings after 34 balls, as he and Buttler set about rebuilding the England innings, when he drove Pandya through extra cover  after Stokes was beaten by the previous ball and the one after.

He became Kuleep fifth victim when he top edged a reverse sweep off Kuldeep  to Kaul who took a brilliant diving catch at short third man. Stokes 50 from 102 balls is the third slowest ODI fifty by an England player against India since innings were recorded in balls.  Five balls later David Willey pulled Kuldeep’s last ball of his 10 overs to KL Rahul on the deep mid wicket boundary.

When Adil Rashid smashed Siddarth Kaul for a straight four in the 47 over it was the first boundary by England in 12 overs and a ball.  Then the boundaries came at a pace first Moeen Ali clipped  Umesh  Yadav off his legs for the first six of the match, but when he tried repeating the shot two balls later he got it a little squarer and found Kohli on the deep mid wicket boundary.

Rashid clipped Kaul off his legs for a six then he stepped away from the next ball which hit his body and ran to the boundary. He squeezed Umesh out looking for another boundary  but found Pandya on the point point boundary.

England were dismissed one ball shy of their fifty overs when Liam Plunkett turned blind for a second and was run out by a mile.

Skipper Morgan said: “You can get exposed if you don’t put a score on the board on a small  ground and the two grounds that Kuleep has done well have offered more turn than the others.  We need to clarify our plan against him. You don’t come up against a bowler like him every day and when you do you have to adapt.”

At one time chasing 269 in a 55 over match was deemed impossible but today India made 50 overs it looked a doddle.  Whether it was the threat of batting getting harder as the India innings progressed openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan  quickly got to 37 after five overs. 

Sharma brought up the India 50 with a six off Mark Wood with a gentle push over long on but they lost their first wicket in the next over when Dhawan raced down the wicket Moeen Ali miscued his drive and Rashid  at short third man took the catch.

That brought Kohli to the crease and for the 25 overs the crowd were treated to a batting masterclass as they added 167 in 25 overs.  Kohli got off the mark with an extra cover drive to the boundary off Wood. Sharma and Kohli found the boundary with ease, with Rashid bowling at the Radcliffe Road end.  Bairstow on the cover boundary was running himself daft as he tried to stop the boundaries.

Kohli brought up his fifty which came from 55 balls with a cover drive off Wood for one of his five boundaries. With a century on the cards his innings ended when Kohli dragged his back foot out of his crease to Rashid and was stumped by Butt. 

Sharma reached his first one day hundred against England with a straight six off Rashid that went into the Radcliffe Road stand. His century came from 82 balls and included 12 fours and three sixes. It was his 18th one day hundred with. 

Sharma cut Stokes to the  third man boto bring up his fifty off 54 balls.  Then in the next over he toyed with Rashid by hitting two boundaries in an over that cost Rashid 11.  On 92 England had a chance to get rid of him but he was dropped by Roy at backward point  as Sharma tried to drive Plunkett but didn’t move his feet.

FULL SCORECARD