[ad_1]
Key events
WICKET! Curran c Walsh (sub) b Chase 40 (England 94-5)
Curran finally tries to go after Chase … and gets it completely wrong. A false stroke sees the left-hander send the ball high and straight, with Hayden Walsh holding on in the mid-off region. England must rebuild once again.
25th over: England 94-4 (Salt 41, Curran 40) Salt cuts Shepherd away for four before Curran times a delicious drive to end the over … but collects just one for it.
24th over: England 85-4 (Salt 36, Curran 36) Chase ties up Salt with five dots. This is the right-hander’s second longest innings in ODIs, only his 93-ball 122 against the Netherlands in 2022 trumping this effort.
23rd over: England 84-4 (Salt 36, Curran 35) It’s a binary game at the moment: just ones and dots. Shepherd is flicked around for five singles while I enviously crave some Barbados sunshine.
22nd over: England 79-4 (Salt 34, Curran 32) Salt and Curran don’t seem keen on doing anything too adventurous against Chase, again opting for four singles.
21st over: England 75-4 (Salt 32, Curran 30) Ignore my previous entry: Romario Shepherd’s pace returns and so does Phil Salt’s touch. The opener finds the middle of his bat with a whopping pull for six, bringing up the fifty partnership with Curran.
20th over: England 68-4 (Salt 25, Curran 30) We’re very much in the ODI middle-overs churn of spin from both ends. Four singles are collected off Chase’s off-spin.
19th over: England 64-4 (Salt 23, Curran 28) Sam Curran lets the arms flow against Motie, driving over mid-off for four. A recovery is beginning to take shape.
18th over: England 58-4 (Salt 22, Curran 23) Roston Chase is on and creates a chance with his first ball, a leading edge from Curran nearly prompting a return catch. Salt hoiks, unconvincingly, down the ground for one, still waiting to get properly going in this innings.
Krishnamoorthy v writes in:
Should England collapse dramatically, today is the day. The world is reeling from Trump’s victory
Everything else will be under the radar
17th over: England 54-4 (Salt 20, Curran 21) Curran and Salt knock around the ones off Motie, with a smattering of applause for England’s team fifty.
16th over: England 49-4 (Salt 18, Curran 18) Alzarri Joseph, whose thunderous delivery to dismiss Cox remains the highlight of the day, continues. The fast bowler fumes once again after a shy at the stumps from a fielder leads to an overthrow. Another overthrow follows later in the over; this time Joseph just opts for a shake of the head, perhaps tired of firing off the expletives.
The trials and tribulations of Alzarri Joseph…
3.1 overs: fuming at field placement
3.4 overs: bounces out Cox, doesn’t celebrate
End of over: storms off in a huff 😅 pic.twitter.com/Qne366zs1a— Cricket on TNT Sports (@cricketontnt) November 6, 2024
15th over: England 46-4 (Salt 17, Curran 16) There’s bit of rough for Motie to attack outside Curran’s off stump. The spinner concedes three singles to take us to drinks.
14th over: England 43-4 (Salt 15, Curran 15) Curran is looking more comfortable than Salt, who’s on 15 after his first 37 balls – I don’t think I’ve seen the opener bat this slowly before. Perhaps there’s a desire to stand up and take responsibility with a big one after seeing that early flurry of wickets.
13th over: England 41-4 (Salt 14, Curran 14) Time for tweak: Gudakesh Motie’s left-arm spin is called upon by Shai Hope. Curran, looking in decent touch after a half-century on Saturday, drives a fuller ball through extra cover for four.
Guy Hornsby writes in:
Evening Taha, what a day. What a day. Western democracy may be going to hell in a handcart but here we dedicated few are, with England in the thick stuff against the West Indies, 4 down already with Alzarri Joseph’s righteous anger being talked through by the dulcet tones of Ian Bishop. It’s definitely helping, as cricket often does at times like this.
12th over: England 35-4 (Salt 13, Curran 9) A calmer Alzarri Joseph has the ball again and he’s still bowling wheels. Curran plays the stroke of the innings, though, pulling hard to the ropes.
11th over: England 29-4 (Salt 12, Curran 4) Forde’s opening spell continues; it’s another quiet one until Sam Curran seizes upon some width to cut hard for four.
10th over: England 24-4 (Salt 11, Curran 0) An eventful powerplay comes to a close. England are having a miserable time; West Indies are – aside from Alzarri Joseph’s rage – lovin’ life.
WICKET! Livingstone c Hope b Shepherd 6 (England 24-4)
Liam Livingstone has a boundary at long last, driving a cutter from Shepherd through the covers for four. But he’s gone just moments later! Shepherd, bowling from wide on the crease, gets a ball to lift sharply outside off; Livingstone offers a loose, ambitious stroke, nicking behind to Hope, who keeps holding on with the gloves.
9th over: England 19-3 (Salt 10, Livingstone 2) Finally, after 84 years, England score a run, Salt finding a single off Forde. But that’s the only damage from the over.
8th over: England 18-3 (Salt 9, Livingstone 2) West Indies are in control, thudding the ball in from back of a length to keep the dots flowing. Romario Shepherd produces a maiden, too.
7th over: England 18-3 (Salt 9, Livingstone 2) Forde continues and isn’t giving Salt room to thrash it – as the opener usually does in the powerplay – angling the ball in to the right-hander to produce five dots in a row. Make that a maiden, with Salt unable to find a gap in the off-side.
6th over: England 18-3 (Salt 9, Livingstone 2) Salt goes for a quick single towards mid-on, where the fielder picks up and nails a direct hit … replays show that Salt made his ground.
They’re just checking whether Chase grounded the ball after holding on … after a few replays it stays out. Liam Livingstone emerges to try sort out another mess.
WICKET! Bethell c Chase b Shepherd 0 (England 14-3)
Alzarri Joseph makes his way back on to the field … but it’s Romario Shepherd who will bowl. And he strikes first ball! Jacob Bethell has room to cut and does … but Roston Chase leaps at backward point to hold on. England are in all sorts.
5th over: England 14-2 (Salt 8, Bethell 0) So there’s no substitute on for Joseph according to the commentators. This is really strange. Phil Salt sends Forde down the ground for four to give England a bit of a lift.
4th over: England 10-2 (Salt 4, Bethell 0) Alzarri Joseph is still fuming, it seems at Shai Hope, and after bowling the over he leaves the field! A bizarre few minutes.
WICKET! Cox c Hope b Joseph 1 (England 10-2)
Alzarri Joseph is ticking, for reasons unknown, perhaps not pleased with the field he’s been given. Anywho, he’s looking sharp, bowling in the late 80s (mph). And after three dots he gets Cox! It’s a stunning delivery, a bumper that nicks Cox’s gloves and carries to Hope. Cox doesn’t immediately walk, perhaps just in shock from how outrageous that delivery was. It was above 90mph.
3rd over: England 10-1 (Salt 4, Cox 1) Jordan Cox, another up-and-comer in search of a score, makes his way out.
WICKET! Jacks c Hope b Forde 5 (England 9-1)
Jacks leans into a cover drive for four as Forde overpitches. But an outside edge follows the very next ball! Forde pulls back his length and has Jacks feathering a catch to Shai Hope behind the stumps. Jacks’ lean series is over.
2nd over: England 5-0 (Salt 4, Jacks 1) Alzarri Joseph rocks up from the other end and Jacks offers a leave outside off before showing off a forward defence. That’s not very Bazball. Jacks steals a quick single with a leg-side dab to get off the mark.
1st over: England 3-0 (Salt 3, Jacks 0) Will Jacks and Phil Salt – both averaging 33 in this format – make their way out. Matthew Forde opens up, with Salt punching to point for a dot to kick things off. A misfield brings Salt three through the leg side, with Sherfane Rutherford hurting after a stop by the boundary. Jacks is nearly a goner first ball, flicking aerially towards Shimron Hetmyer at square leg, the ball just dropping short of the fielder.
Great tune, always.
The players are out there for the anthems. Not long now.
The teams
Both sides make two changes. Alzarri Joseph and Romario Shepard come in for Shamar Joseph and Jayden Seales. England have left out Saqib Mahmood and John Turner, with Reece Topley and Jamie Overton in. Overton extends the batting but will he have a trundle, too?
West Indies: Evin Lewis, Brandon King, Keacy Carty, Shai Hope (c & wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Shimron Hetmyer, Roston Chase, Romario Shepherd, Matthew Forde, Alzarri Joseph, Gudakesh Motie
England: Phil Salt (wk), Will Jacks, Jordan Cox, Jacob Bethell, Liam Livingstone (c), Sam Curran, Dan Mousley, Jamie Overton, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley.
West Indies win the toss and choose to field
Shai Hope wins it, isn’t exactly sure how the pitch will play and decides to bowl first. Liam Livingstone says England would’ve done the same.
This is a really great Spin from Peter Mason:
With more important things happening elsewhere, my mind goes back to Don McRae’s brilliant 2017 interview with Zafar Ansari, who retired from professional cricket aged 25, just months on from his Test debut for England. Here he speaks about playing against India while the 2016 US presidential election was taking place:
It was a very politically significant time. Trump was elected on the first day of our opening Test in India. I was batting at 10 and we weren’t allowed our phones in the dressing room. I was getting snippets of information from security but I felt so disconnected from something I would have been hyper-connected to here. The combination of playing very difficult cricket, while missing things that mattered so much, made me think more clearly about my future.
I heard the news about Trump at the end of that day’s play. We got our phones and it was a shocking moment. I expected [Hillary] Clinton to edge it and found it difficult to accept. I’ve since focused most on the policy – like changes to healthcare provision, the attempted Muslim ban, as well as the ramping up of immigration and deportations – rather than just thinking of Trump as the clown he often appears. It’s important to be less hysterical about the person but more hysterical about the political implications.”
Preamble
Hello, hello, hello and welcome to a bit of jeopardy: a decider in this three-match ODI series between England and West Indies in Barbados. At 160 for four chasing an imposing 329, England were down and out in the second one-dayer before Liam Livingstone – dropped in the summer, now stand-in captain – swung his way to a maiden ODI century, nine sixes included in his 85-ball 124. Fuuuuun.
England haven’t won an ODI series since before last year’s horrendous showing at the World Cup, so, despite the experimental nature of their current setup, this game has genuine meaning to it. You don’t always get that nowadays with the white-ball stuff.
I’ll be here for the first half, with Rob Smyth braving the early hours for the finish. Drop me a line with all your thoughts, queries, political analysis, ways to heal the world, whatever you fancy.
[ad_2]
