England v India 1st ODI at Edgbaston July 14th

Neil Whitaker reports

INDIA beat India by six wickets at Edgbaston with 4.4 overs to spare to take a one nil lead in the three match series.

England captain Harry Brook said: “We had  a poor period where we lost five for 20 which made a big difference to the match. At the halfway stage we thought that we a decent score. Hopefully we can come back stronger at Cardiff.”

It was a match that India dominated apart from the first 12 overs of the England innings. India made England price of playing only three pace bowlers with four spinners on a fast pitch with high bounce.  But it was Indian spinner Axar Patel who finished with ODI figures of 4/62 after the early damage was done by India’s pacemen. 

England won the toss and elected to bat on a on a cool morning  at Edgbaston and  they had an early scare when Jasprit  Bumrah swung one back in at Ben Duckett who survived the leg before appeal.

Duckett scooped Gurnoor  Brar over fine leg for the first six of the match.  Two balls later Duckett finished the over with a top edged pull that went for another six. That opened the floodgates for Duckett he smashed Brar to the mid-wicket boundary and cut him to the point boundary.  Meanwhile his partner Jacob Bethell struggled to find the boundary but he did rotate the strike then it went wrong for England in the 13th over when a change of ends for Brar to the Birmingham end worked for him.  First, Bethel pulled him to Washington Sundar coming from the mid-wicket boundary dived forward to take the catch.  The opening pair had put 61 for the first wicket, England’s highest  opening partnerships for 10 ODI’s. Then Duckett uppercut Brar to Bumrah on the third man boundary edge who threw the ball back in the field to complete the catch.  Bumrah came back into the attack for  the next over and struck with his first ball when Brook guided him to Rohit at slip for Bumrah’s 150th ODI wicket. Brook added: “Bumrah is  a very god bowler and I nicked him to slip.” 

Jos Buttler,playing his 200th ODI, got too far under a drive off Prasidh Krishna and the ball went up the ladder. It looked certain that Indian skipper Shubman Gill would take the catch at mid-off but suddenly Guroor  appeared on the scene collided with his captain but importantly took the catch.  In the next over Sam Curran edged a big drive to stumper KL Raul. 

England had lost five wickets for 19 in 24 balls. It could have been worse as Joe Root was dropped on seven.   Root drove Shivam Dube back to the bowler but Dube dropped the simple chance he went to make India pay for that drop as he made an unbeaten 70 by the time England were dismissed for 258.  It was Root’s 46 ODI fifty and   he shared in a seventh wicket partnership of 121 with Liam Dawson.  From the start of their partnership, it was Dawson who dominated it. He slog/ sept Axar over fine leg for a six. He whipped Bumrah to the mid-wicket to bring up England’s 200, which at 80 for five looked a long way off. Root played the usual Root innings always not flustered calm and always in control.  He helped a short ball from Krishna on its way to the fine leg boundary. Root showed his aggression as well when went down the pitch to Axar and lofted him straight for a six. Their  partnership was broken when Dawson pulled Krishna straight down Axar’s throat on the square leg boundary.  Dawson made 68, his highest score in ODI cricket and the age of 36 he became the second oldest England player to score an ODI fifty  after Sir Geoffrey Boycott.

Brook said: “Their partnership was risk free and it was a valuable one.” 

Will Jacks hit a quick 20 off 19 balls but he was sent on his way back to the hutch when he fell to a brilliant low catch diving to his left after Dube had found some extra bounce to take the edge off Jacks bat.  Jofra Archer pulled Axar flat over the square leg boundary for a six.  Looking for another six he pulled the next ball to Washington on the mid-wicket boundary.

Bara pulled up at the start of his final over with cramp and was replaced by Axar and it worked out well for India as Adil Rashid had a big swing at him and was stumped.  Two balls later Josh Tongue on his ODI debut was beaten by Axar’s flight and was bowled. Axar’s figures of four 62 are his best in ODI cricket. 

In their chase Gill pulled Tongue over fine leg for the first six of India’s and two balls late he punched Tongue to the extra cove boundary.  Rohit woke up and pulled Archer to the square leg boundary and then pushed him out to mid-wicket for a couple.  But that was that from Rohit he charged Curran and lofted him to at mid-off.  Virat Kohli, who was in credit after his sharp fielding  in the covers stopping drives that had a boundary  written on them, but he made only five  when he was done by the one/two from Archer. The first ball was short which  he gloved to the fine leg boundary, the second was full and he was leg before.

Gill undercut Curran,with Buttler standing up, to the third man boundary to bring up his 19th ODI fifty from 51 balls.  In the next over he swept Rashid to the fine leg boundary.  He lofted Bethell over the cover fielder and the raced to the  extra cover boundary.  After receiving treatment for cramp he swept Jacks to the square leg boundary.  He pulled the first ball of Tongue’s return with the ball to the square leg boundary to bring up the hundred partnership with Iyer.  After that shot he retired hurt. 

Shreyas Iyer drove Curran to the extra cover boundary, later in the Gill copied the but his shot  was even better with the same result.  He thrashed Tongue to the extra cover boundary. Iyer leg glanced Bethel for three. 

Washington Sundar   and Axar saw India home  with a partnership of 102 and they both hit unbeaten 50’s.  Washington reached his fifty when he hit Rashid back over his head for a six.  Earlier Washington  lent back and drilled Archer through the vacant offside to mid-wicket boundary.  Two balls later he played Archer on the legside and set off for a single but Iyer was guilty of ball watching couldn’t beat Brook’s direct hit.  He nearly knocked Curran’s head off when he drove Curran straight to the boundary. Axar slog/swept Jacks over the deep mid wicker boundary.  In the next over he greeted the return of Archer to the attack by clipping him to the square  leg boundary and hammering him to the point boundary.  He log/ swept Jacks for a six over the long-on boundary to bring up his fifty from 39 balls. 

The other wicket to fall was KL Raul’s when he dragged on to Tongue.

Washington said: “I give a lot of importance to preparation and I am grateful that people have faith in me and made me understand my game.  As an all-rounder I play according to the conditions and I do my best to help my team win. Today was a good day for the all-rounders, as Axar took some vital wickets and made sure that they didn’t get 280.   It’s a great win today.”

 

 

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