The Rose Bowl in Southampton was all ready to host the 1st ODI between England and West Indies and everyone was eagerly waiting to see Chris Gayle back on the field in the West Indies colours. But fate made a joke of all these drama as Chris Gayle was injured just minutes before the toss. Even the English fans were disappointed that the big Jamaican was not part of the 1st ODI. But the game had to go on anyway.
England were batting first and the opening duo of skipper Alaistair Cook and Ian Bell marched on the field. England got off to a bad start as Ravi Rampaul once again proved to be Cook's nemesis and he dismissed the England Skipper for a duck of the third ball of the innings. Trott joined Bell in the middle and the pair played some delightful shots in the powerplays. Bell was looking in sublime touch and he completed his 50 in quick time. Trott and Bell added 108 for the 2nd wicket before Trott was shown the door for 42. Bopara and Morgan too did not last long and were dismissed for 8 and 21 respectively. Bell and Kieswetter then played aggresively in the batting powerplay and scored quick runs. Bell reached his century in the 34th over and was later out for 126 of 117 deliveries. Bell really made a superb comeback in the England ODI side and answered his critics well. Late flourishes by Kieswetter, Bresnan and Broad helped England reach 288/6 in their alloted 50 overs. Kieswetter finished on 38* in 39 balls. Samuels was the pick of the bowlers for West Indies with figures of 2/43.
West Indies had a huge score to chase down against a strong England bowling line up. Dwayne Smith and Lendl Simmons opened the batting for West Indies and were looking aggresive right from the word go. Simmons fell early for 15 but Smith carried on in his merry way. Smith smacked 2 sixes and added 70 runs for the 2nd wicket with Ramdin. West Indies were well poised at 95/1 in the 16th over before Smith was caught behind the wicket of Bresnan for 56. This resulted in a collapse and wickets started falling at regular intervals. Ramdin fell for 22 and Bravo and Pollard too did not trouble the scorers much. West Indies were 127/5 in 23 overs when rain came down and play had to be halted. Play resumed after an hour. According to D/L method, West Indies had a new target of 287 to chase down in 48 overs. But apart from Marlon Samuels, no other batsman could spend time on the wicket and West Indies were finally bowled out for 172 in 33.4 overs. Tim Bresnan starred with the ball and ended up with figures of 4/34. England won the match by 114 runs(D/L method) and lead the 3 ODI Series 1-0 with the 2nd ODI to be played on Tuesday.
ENGLAND-288/6 (50)
Bell-126
Trott-42
Kieswetter-38*
WEST INDIES-172 (33.4)
D.R. Smith-56
Samuels-30
Bresnan-4/34
ENGLAND WON BY 114 RUNS (D/L METHOD)
Man Of The Match-IAN BELL
Yes, but where's the damn scorecard??
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