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Jason Holder is looking forward to the World Cup: “We’re heading in the right direction. our batters have really held their hands up and our bowlers have had some trying times but they’ve arguably won us two games.”
The teams have to choose their squad by April 23. England are nearly there but Jofra Archer is hovering around the edges, Rob Key thinks David Willey might be at risk, Trescothick and Solanki think Denley and Tom Curran could be vulnerable.
So a 2-2 draw in a crazy-rollercoaster of a one-day series, after a gripping Test series to boot. And there are still three T20s to go - follow every over here! That’s it for now, the match report will plop in to the in-box shortly. Thanks very much for your company today - have a sweet evening.
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And hope to those tottering on the edge of middle-age, wherever they are: “Man of the series aged 39,” says Chris Gayle. “Come on youngsters, what’s happening?”
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Eoin Morgan: “We struggled, with the extra bit of bounce in the wicket, it is not something we come across very often. Today was pretty much a one-horse race, we didn’t deserve to win the game. When you come up against different conditions you need to find ways of scoring runs, occupying the crease, we need to get better at it. You need to have the good enough headspace to adapt to conditions. I hope and think we can learn from today. I think we’ve competed really well in the series, we’ve not been at our all round best, but we’ve really enjoyed it.”
Player of the match: Oshane Thomas for figures of 5-21.
Player of the series: Chris Gayle 421 runs and 39 sixes
The West Indies haven't won an ODI series since 2014, a run of 14 consecutive bilateral series. In that context, a 2-2 draw with the world's number one is a hell of a result
— Tim (@timwig) March 2, 2019
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“Brutal from Chris Gayle,” says Trescothick in the Sky studio. “A thorough hammering for England.” Which pretty much sums things up.
Nasser Hussain has caught up with Chris Gayle:
Are you still going to retire? “Will this be my last innings in the Caribbean? We’ll just wait and see. I think this will give us a bit of a boost, being in such terrific form, both teams played good cricket all round.”
He hit 39 sixes in this tournament. “I think this might be my best,” ponders Gayle.
“I worked really hard in South Africa, Bangladesh, runs were not really coming ... I really put the work in. The captain said in the last game he can’t understand how I can announce my retirement.... I’ve got to be honest, today I picked up the wrong bat. I want to thank the Almighty for this.”
So there you go, he did it all with the wrong bat...
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Chris Gayle, florescent green sunglasses, maroon cap, gripping a celebratory stump, shakes hands with everyone and waves to the crowd. What a way to say farewell! For all his faults, in particular his past attitude to women, he is an outrageously, eye-rubbingly, good batman.
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WEST INDIES WIN BY SEVEN WICKETS
Hetmyer drives Tom Curran’s first ball through long-off and that is it! Sky are calling it England’s biggest loss in one-day cricket.
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12th over 111-3 (Bravo 7, Hetmyer 7) Wood again - have he and Woakes done something bad that we don’t know about? Hetmeyer - bash - through the covers for four. The West Indies players are sitting in their flip-flops, in the shade, in the dug out: life looks good. A one-handed drive from Bravo for two.... and the umpires are NOT taking the players off, thankfully, as, with three runs to win, that would be daft.
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11th over 103-3 (Bravo 5, Hetmyer 2) Bravo drives Woakes and it squirts off the edge and trickles over the boundary at long-on. Woakes is dreaming, dreaming of a beach...and some soft, soft sand...and lapping waves.... not long now.
10th over 97-3 (Bravo 1, Hetmyer 1) And things have returned to normality -a sort of normality where the run-rate is 10.0. The batsmen potter a couple of singles from Wood and West Indies need 17 runs to win.
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9th over 95-3 (Bravo 0, Hetmyer 0) An audible sigh of an over.
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WICKET! Hope b Woakes 13
An un-gorgeous slog to a slower ball and a small pocket of victory for Woakes (5 overs, 1-50)
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8th over 93-2 (Bravo 0, Hope 11) SIX! SIX! FOUR! FOUR! SIX! WICKET! Wood goes from on-the-ground-despair to a relieved smile. What an over - a waft, an extra-cover swish, a ramp, a tip-toed clip, a top-edged hook before finally bowing out. And that’s Gayle’s goodnight.
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WICKET! Gayle b Wood 77
The end of a cocksure, preening, supremely talented, velvet-clad, joyous, golden-booted, ugly-stanced, princeling of an innings. Bravo!
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7th over 67-1 (Gayle 51, Hope 11) Shay Hope thinks that he might have a go at Woakes now and, elbow high, drives, beautifully, classically, over long-off for four.
Andrew Benton has thoughts:
“I think that England often do this - fall to pieces after a win and need that failure to motivate themselves for the next match. It’s indicative of lax leadership - they should all be living for and then in the next game, never allowed to sit on their laurels. Probably all very gentlemanly in the dressing room. Is this so?”
I have no idea what it is like in the dressing room Andrew, but I think they are encouraged to play with no fear and attack, attack, attack... and sometimes they’ll fall on their arse. Like today.
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6th over 60-1 (Gayle 50, Hope 5) Gayle , solid as a buffalo, somehow muscles Wood out of the ground, past the cement mixer, for six. Then another, into the delighted spectators slurping slush-puppy lime at the mid-wicket boundary, a tiny twirl with the feet and its whoosh for the max. Wood slams one short into the pitch over his head in revenge - that’s topping 90mph. And then with a gentille single, that’s fifty for Gayle off 19 balls. 19!!!! He takes off his helmet, perches it on the top of his bat, struts about the crease and enjoys the worship.
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5th over 45-1 (Gayle 37, Hope 3) A quieter over for Woakes. Another appeal for lbw off the last ball of the over after Hope has a swing and misses... .but the umpires say no and Eoin Morgan agrees.
Hope out.... or is he?
The umpire raises the finger but Hope appeals..... ball tracking shows that the impact is in line but missing the top of leg stump.... NOT OUT!
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4th over 43-1 (Gayle 37, Hope 1) At the shadowy end of the ground, where singles and other mysteries happen, Mark Wood is bowling at 90 mph. Hopes scampers a run and Wood makes Gayle arch backwards, then swish waspishly and not like TUB at all.
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WICKET! Campbell b Wood 1
Gayle’s quiet sidekick farts about to a nip-backer from Wood and is bowled.
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3rd over 40-0 (Gayle 37, Campbell 1) Gayle (sorry TUB sticks in the craw) ponders a half volley, looks as if he’s bending to dig up some potatoes, and somehow glances the ball for six. Next, he whallops Woakes over extra-cover for another six. Then a four through square leg. Now a wicket, caught at fine leg... ... except he’s not, its a no-ball... for being too high. Hmmm, that seems harsh. Last ball, ah, Gayle crashes Woakes high and straight into the stand. No, apologies, it’s on the roof!
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2nd over 17-0 (Gayle 15, Campbell 1) Wood applies the brakes - his fifth ball, a wide, the only runs off the over. His rapidness causing the Windies batsmen at least some hesitation.
Three days after their hghest score against West Indies, England record their lowest. Never dull.
— Lawrence Booth (@the_topspin) March 2, 2019
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1st over 16-0 (Gayle 15, Campbell 1) Gayle has a huge ugly slog behind his head for four, pulls for another, then- whoopie-do- six off his toes and West Indies are skipping away with it with one over down. Woakes bites his lips in a Breakfast Club kind of way.
And by the way, hello! That was rather a quicker changeover than I’d anticipated when I popped to the post office (closed). Hold on to your hats, this shouldn’t take long.
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England are bowled out for 113, West Indies need 114 to win
Levelling the series should be as simple as strolling to 114 for the West Indies. But what on earth has happened to England? On a challenging but far from impossible surface they have fallen apart. There was no ability or willingness to adapt to the conditions. Only Buttler considered the idea.
Bairstow went early as he has licence to do. Hales looked out of sorts until he perished. Then the rest got out attacking the short ball, at least until Curran was foxed by having one pitched up. Bowled out for 113, this is right from the vault of impressive England capitulations, but it comes in an era where the ODI team at least hasn’t been prone to this sort of thing. Perhaps it’s the inevitable risk of their high-octane style.
Buttler and Hales made the equal top score with 23. There were several starts, with the whole middle order soaking up a decent number of deliveries, but it didn’t help provide a sense of how to play on this pitch.
Brathwaite was outstanding, with 2 for 17 from his eight overs. Holder took 2 for 28 from seven. Cottrell took 1 for 23, as well as three catches. And Thomas took the spoils of 5 for 21 from just 31 deliveries.
“With England knocked over for 113,” writes Avitaj Mira, “is this now the biggest difference in runs for a side batting in consecutive matches? 418 - 113 = 305.”
Outstanding stat. Someone like Andrew Samson would know for sure, but I’m pretty confident in saying it’s true.
And no time to draw breath because we’re about to continue. The meal break won’t be taken because England are all out too early in the day. So the West Indies are about to bat for a while, and I’m about to hand over to Tanya Aldred. Thanks for your company on a memorable day.
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WICKET! Curran b Thomas 0 (2 balls), England all out for 113
And a frazzled shot by Tom Curran to finish things off. Wasn’t sure what to do, was desperate to try to slog a boundary or two before they got him, so he backs away against Thomas and looks to carve through the off side. Misses it completely and loses most of of his stumps.
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28th over: England 113-9 (Curran 0) Rashid out from the last ball of the Holder over. Bear with us here, we can’t even keep up. A wicket maiden for Holder as he picks up his second. Who’s worried about over rates? Not this feller.
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WICKET! Rashid c Hope b Holder 0 (6 balls), England 113-9
Another one goes down to the short ball! Holder’s height made that ball launch like a Challenger shuttle. Rashid is a decent bat and was doing the right thing in shaping to defend, but it took off and reached head height rather than rib height, and as he flailed in defence it took his glove on the way through to Hope. That was brutal for a tailender.
Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty Images,
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27th over: England 113-8 (Curran 0, Rashid 0) Thomas has 4 for 21 after that over, mostly done with pace.
Does Chris Woakes have Twitter?
Wickets in this innings by length
— The Cricket Prof. (@CricProf) March 2, 2019
Full: 1
Good: 0
Short: 7 #WIvENG
WICKET! Buttler c Cottrell b Thomas 23 (36 balls), England 113-8
What sorcery is this! Buttler has looked so composed and controlled today, while all about him were doing the opposite. But now Thomas angles a short ball in towards his body, and Buttler is caught halfway between wanting to play his outrageous flick into the stands, and wanting to preserve his wicket. In the end he plays half the shot, deflecting that ball off his hip with a straight-ish bat, but only really gets elevation rather than distance, and Cottrell running around from fine leg to deep backward square is able to intercept it for his third catch of the innings. England’s ace up the sleeve has turned out to be an instruction leaflet for an air conditioner.
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WICKET! Woakes c Brathwaite b Thomas 0 (4 balls), England 111-7
I’m not sure what match Chris Woakes was watching before this, or if he was just on his Game Boy. Everyone today has got out to the short ball because it’s hard to gauge the bounce, and his teammate Buttler needs a capable lower-order batsman to hang in there with him for 20 overs. So what does Woakes do? Hooks at the first short ball he sees and gets a top edge to midwicket. Thinking face emoji.
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26th over: England 111-6 (Buttler 21, Woakes 0) So Buttler knows that it’s up to him now just to bat through, get past 200, and give his side a chance. Holder comes back on for Nurse, looking to push for another wicket and a reduced target. Buttler is happy to leave him alone for a maiden.
25th over: England 111-6 (Buttler 21, Woakes 0) Thomas has 2 for 19. Woakes is the new batsman. At exactly two hours of game time, we’re at exactly the halfway mark of the innings. An ODI innings should in theory take a bit over three hours. This one is on track for four. That suspension for Jason Holder during the Test series didn’t bother him much, did it? The obvious solution for West Indies now is to bowl England out.
WICKET! Moeen c Hope b Thomas 12 (25 balls), England 111-6
That extra bounce does it again. Oshane Thomas bowled across Moeen, outside his off stump and a touch short. Moeen was looking to force through the off side, back foot with an angled bat, but didn’t account for the bounce and instead gets a simple top edge of the angled blade. Hope takes his third catch of the match.
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24th over: England 108-5 (Buttler 19, Moeen 11) Four runs for Moeen, as he drops to one knee and smears Nurse away to the midwicket boundary with a sweep! Made no attempt to keep that down, just targeted a big gap out there and nailed it. No doubt that Moeen can change a game with the bat. England need him to.
23rd over: England 104-5 (Buttler 19, Moeen 7) A long despairing cry of “Caaaaatch!” from Brathwaite as Moeen flips a pull shot towards fine leg. It bounced in front of the man down there. This after Mo punched a couple through point. Three from the over is the total collect.
No wonder England are struggling a bit.
The extra bounce is causing England problems today. The average bounce height of short length balls today has been 1.41 metres; that's a 29cm more than the average bounce height for short balls in ODI cricket of 1.12 metres. #WIvENG
— The Cricket Prof. (@CricProf) March 2, 2019
22nd over: England 101-5 (Buttler 19, Moeen 4) Nurse to Buttler really does sound like a Carry On scene. The latter muscles a couple of runs through cover, then two more on the pull. He raises England’s triple figures.
21st over: England 94-5 (Buttler 14, Moeen 3) The Brathwaite masterclass continues. Just a single from his over as he hovers between landing on a length or the threat of the short ball.
Controversial, this, from our Guardian colleague, as the song in question comes back on the PA so clearly you can hear it through the TV.
A real shame that we're ending this #WIvEng ODI series with the worst ground DJ of the lot.
— Vithushan Ehantharajah (@Vitu_E) March 2, 2019
He's going to play Sweet Caroline four more times this innings, the wasteman.
Yeah huge on the karaoke circuit there. Could well be big on Mars, too. It’s still garbage.
— Vithushan Ehantharajah (@Vitu_E) March 2, 2019
I’ve often thought that if you ever need to escape from a room full of 60-somethings who are swarming to grab hold of you, just play Sweet Caroline and they will instinctively raise their hands in the air and start swaying, and you can duck underneath the forest of arms and make your escape.
20th over: England 93-5 (Buttler 13, Moeen 3) Ashley Nurse skips through another over of doorknobs for the addition of four singles. A nice time to bowl once your teammates have knocked the stuffing out of the top order.
19th over: England 89-5 (Buttler 11, Moeen 1) One ball left in the over and Brathwaite nearly has another. Similar delivery, short and attacking Moeen’s body, and the batsman fends it away blindly via the glove and loops it over the man at backward square leg. Takes a run. Brathwaite has 2 for 13 from six overs.
WICKET! Stokes c Hope b Brathwaite 15 (27 balls), England 88-5
The short ball does it again. On-pace delivery from Brathwaite, delivered with a bit of menace. Over Stokes’ right shoulder. The batsman tries to pull but is late on the shot, and only gloves it down the leg side to Hope. Carlos has been outstanding today.
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18th over: England 87-4 (Stokes 15, Buttler 10) Spin time, since we’ve had 17 overs in nearly an hour and a half. Ashley Nurse will send down some off-breaks. Not too successfully, though there’s a chance of a run out when Hetmyer’s return from the deep is right over of the bails. The batsmen hustle two and just make it it. Buttler drives a boundary through long-off nicely enough. Nine from the over with assorted singles.
Here’s the match report from the other game.
17th over: England 78-4 (Stokes 12, Buttler 4) Brathwaite with another excellent over, this one conceding just the two runs.
Here are those MS Dhoni numbers, regarding successful run chases.
He’s batted in 74 winning chases.
In 47 of those – nearly two thirds – he’s been not out.
When India wins a run chase he now averages 105.25.
What?
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16th over: England 76-4 (Stokes 11, Buttler 3) Finally Stokes is able to play some shots with some surety for England. Thomas is persisting with this short-pitched attack, but he doesn’t quite get his line right, unlike his previous over. First Stokes is able to play the cut shot for four, then follows it up with a pull.
15th over: England 67-4 (Stokes 2, Buttler 3) Brathwaite continues on his merry seam-bowling way. Buttler with total respect leaves most of the over alone, cautious after one ball straightened hugely off the pitch and nearly took a leading edge as he tried to play across the line. The last of the over Buttler drives and edges past slip for a couple on this slow outfield.
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14th over: England 65-4 (Stokes 2, Buttler 1) Right then. The captain gone. The Universe Jos is at the crease early. We’ve just had a drinks break with the fall of the wicket. Morgan, like Bairstow, had belted a boundary just before getting out, though Morgan’s was deliberate and through cover. Four down after 14 overs and it’s recovery time. With Thomas joining the club, each of the West Indies’ four seamers has a wicket.
Short lengths have now taken three wickets from 28 balls today while good and full lengths have taken one from 53 balls. #WIvENG
— The Cricket Prof. (@CricProf) March 2, 2019
Well, yes. Though the fuller balls have set the short balls up.
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WICKET! Morgan c Cottrell b Thomas 18 (22 balls), England 63-4
Another one down, and Cottrell cannot be stopped. He takes another catch, this time as a deep fine leg, but again from the top edge. Morgan takes on the short ball, can’t time it out of this surface, and the high top edge swirls down towards the boundary.
13th over: England 59-3 (Morgan 14, Stokes 2) Carlos Brathwaite isn’t the man you’d think of as a destroyer with the ball. But he’s bowling beautifully. Seam upright, movement off the pitch, does for Stokes twice in a row but can’t quite get the edge. Right arm around the wicket to the lefty. Inward angle now to take the pad, but sliding down. He finishes with a maiden.
“I see what I did there,” emails Damien from earlier. “Somewhere in the bowels of this massive multi-roomed building a bemused concierge is wondering why I have let him know my predictions for today’s play in St. Lucia, and I probably won’t get my snacks and bevvies. By the way, if not mustard or ketchup, what in the name of all that is holy, do you dampen your bacon with?”
If it’s decent bacon and cooked nicely, and you butter your toast, what need for more? Bacon does its own dampening.
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12th over: England 59-3 (Morgan 14, Stokes 2) Oshane Thomas begins his first over, and begins it well. First he nips through Stokes to take the inside edge and tangle him up. Then he bowls a sharp bouncer that nails Stokes on the glove and belatedly results in a single. But having kept a tight line at the body to Stokes, he goes far wider to Morgan, who isn’t expecting it and misses out. Then Thomas comes back at the ribcage. Very short aggressive over, and only the accidental single taken from it.
That over rate is sitting at 12 overs in 65 minutes, by the by.
11th over: England 58-3 (Morgan 14, Stokes 1) Two left-handers at the crease now with Ben Stokes to join Morgan. Brathwaite closes out a successful over. In the other game, India have reached 240 to pass Australia’s score, with the grand old man Dhoni still there on 59. I’ll check his updated chasing numbers in just a moment...
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WICKET! Hales c Hope b Brathwaite 23 (35 balls), England 57-3
Brathwaite gets his man at the second opportunity. Short and outside off, but not that wide. Hales hasn’t looked comfortable all day and once again played an unconvincing shot. Angled bat, more a poke than a proper cut, and all he could do was top edge it through to the wicketkeeper.
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10th over: England 55-2 (Hales 21, Morgan 14) Eoin Morgan shows the virtues of patience at the other end. While Holder is landing them well, Morgan calmly defends. When the fifth ball slips too full he punishes it through cover for four. Then takes two runs to midwicket.
“If you are offering to deliver things to your sizeable audience,” emails Stephen Brown, “all I’m after is a little bit of sanity. I’m following you from the side lines of a 5th birthday party. It’s carnage. I’m hoping that the guys on the field have as much energy as some of the kids here. But I’d take following something a little bit calmer if it’s on offer.”
We’re positively kicking back in deckchairs, Steven.
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9th over: England 49-2 (Hales 21, Morgan 8)
Dropped! Hales has been put down. Carlos Brathwaite, the huge all-rounder, is the unlucky bowler. Draws Hales into trying to force a drive to a ball that wasn’t full enough. Slices off the face away to point, where Hetmyer leans across low but palms the catch away. It was going quickly but he could have got two hands to it. In the end picked it up late and only used one. Hales gets a boundary but is disgusted with himself.
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8th over: England 45-2 (Hales 17, Morgan 8) Look, we can conclude that whatever happened in the last couple of overs, they were good for England. Hales added 10 runs to his score. Cottrell bowled the 7th and Holder the 8th.
7th over: In fact if you want to check the other score, now is a great time, because the TV broadcast out of St Lucia has crashed. We’ve missed the whole 7th over and come back halfway through the 8th.
6th over: England 33-2 (Hales 7, Morgan 6) Another wide for Holder, then Morgan plays one airily through gully. A bit lucky there. Finally comes the first convincing stroke of the day, Hales just striding forward to a full ball and clobbering it straight for four. Morgan undoes that somewhat with another airy mis-hit through cover, but he gets the same reward.
“‘Afternoon Geoff from a gloriously sunny Piedmont where it’s nudging 20 degrees,” emails Finbar Anslow. “For the first time in my not so short life I find myself following two OBOs at the same time! Idly glancing at the other game I’ve come to a rather ghastly conclusion. I had always considered cricket and its fans as superior to other sports, both for the game itself and for our ability to enjoy the sport no matter who is winning. Suddenly I realise that I really want Australia to lose. Is it something in the English DNA that doesn’t mind too much who wins other games as long as it’s not the Aussies?”
If you think reading two OBOs is rare, trying writing two. My night very nearly overlapped from Hyderabad to St Lucia... Rob Smyth is covering that game with India looking well placed to run down the target.
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5th over: England 22-2 (Hales 2, Morgan 1) With the wickets falling, Hales is happy to take a moment to breathe and reset. He defends one decent short ball from Cottrell, then leaves and blocks most of the over. Some runs come anyway, first by yet another wide, then a more spectacular extra. Cottrell’s peculiar grip and slightly round-arm action mean it’s comparatively easy to lose his line, I would have thought, and the ball slips out of his hand as he bowls to second slip. That didn’t bounce until well past the popping crease, and was about a pitch width wide of the batsman. It’s a no ball, but Hales can’t connect with the resulting free hit.
4th over: England 20-2 (Hales 2, Morgan 1) Holder is more than able to make up for his first over, conceding just two singles after taking the wicket.
WICKET! Root c Cottrell b Holder 1 (2 balls), England 18-2
Cottrell in the action again! The Test captain arrives and departs just as quickly. There was that attempted uppercut at Holder again, but it’s not much of a shot when third man is there waiting for it. Root doesn’t get a whole lot on the ball, and it landed safely in the hands of Cottrell down at the boundary for a little bonus after his over. Eoin Morgan will be next in.
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3rd over: England 18-1 (Hales 1, Root 1) He’s an idiosyncratic character is Cottrell. Delivers the ball with his left hand curled around it like a possum’s paw. Gives a military salute as he bowls Bairstow, as per recent tradition. The name on the back of his shirt is misspelt as ‘Cotterell’. Either that or every cricket database is wrong. But idiosyncracy so often works in this game, and he gets his early reward after Bairstow top-edged four runs over the keeper.
Sheldon Cottrell's salute comes out again as Jonny Bairstow is bowled inside the first three overs.
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) March 2, 2019
Root soon joins him back in the pavilion, going for 1 from 2 balls.
England are 20/2 from 4 overs. #ENGvWI pic.twitter.com/YokKYKDAAi
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WICKET! Bairstow b Cottrell 11 (11 balls), England 16-1
First one down! Left-arm angle across the right-hander. Full length. Bairstow aims a big drive and only gets the inside edge, as leg stump makes fuller contact with the ball a fraction of a second later. Opened himself up like a tin of sardines, did Jonny.
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2nd over: England 12-0 (Bairstow 7, Hales 1) And some more delays as people come and go through a grandstand door on the second tier that is right behind the bowler’s arm, and the glass door flashes reflections every time it moves. Convenient. Alex Hales tries to uppercut Jason Holder, which is the most obvious shot against a guy who’s six-foot-ten, but Holder gets too much bounce for his opponent and beats the blade. Hales nudges a single next ball, then Holder loses his line twice for wides. Then again! Three in a row. Is the wind forcing the ball across? Bairstow works a single, then Hales is beaten by a beauty as Holder makes the necessary adjustments. Seam movement moving away ever so slightly, though Holder’s naturally shorter length means that it beat the bat rather than taking the edge.
Two overs in 16 minutes, that makes. When they find my dried bones in this OBO cave, please have them sent home to my family.
1st over: England 6-0 (Bairstow 5, Hales 0) Sheldon Cottrell begins with the ball, the slingy left-arm seamer who take five wickets in Bridgetown. He can’t get his radar right to begin with, first flicking Bairstow’s hip to avoid conceding a wide, then being glanced off a similar line for four. Ah, you can see why: his foot is slipping where it lands. Within the crease area at the bowler’s end there’s quite a thick thatch of grass, and his spikes aren’t gripping in it. The groundsman has to come out and do some running repairs, including scraping some grass and laying some sawdust. It was also notable that Oshane Thomas at fine leg wasn’t game to dive or slide in trying to save that boundary. Instead he tried to kick it back half-heartedly while overrunning it at full tilt. Don’t blame him too much: he was focused on having to hurdle a large advertising board just outside the rope, and given this ground is largely made of sand I think he was hesitant to slide in case he got a limb jammed in the surface.
Finally we get going again, though Cottrell bowls a wide despite the changes, and Thomas uses the boot again inside the circle at fine leg as Bairstow glances. That’s a very long first over – by my clock it took about nine minutes.
And we’re about to get underway. Does anyone else need anything? Here’s an email from Damien Clarke: “Could you please send up some bacon sandwiches (English mustard and ketchup), mixed olives, cashews (salted), and four bottles of chilled Newcastle Brown. Room 274, thank you.”
Ketchup and bacon is an abomination in the sight of God. I’m not convinced about mustard either. Luckily I can’t excommunicate you in person because you haven’t given me the name of your hotel. Rookie mistake.
We’re at Darren Sammy Stadium, surely among everyone’s favourite choices for grounds named after slightly unexpected players. I was a huge fan of Darren Sammy’s work for the West Indies, including getting to cover the 2016 World T20 tournament when he showed himself to be an entirely selfless and inspiring leader as his team took out the title. He never played for West Indies again. So he was hard done by on the field, and he’s done a huge amount of good locally as St Lucia’s most famous cricketing son. He deserves a cricket ground or two, for mine.
Alan Russell on email wants to know what time play starts: between Greenwich time, Australian eastern daylight time, and the various zones across the Caribbean, your guess is as good as mine, but I’m going to estimate that it’s 11am local time, and 3pm in the UK. Which means in about five minutes.
The weather looks decent, some cloud about but plenty of sunshine, a brisk breeze coming across the ground. West Indies have an unchanged team. England have left out Liam Plunkett with some soreness after a long tour and Tom Curran has come in.
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Get in touch
As ever, do your part for the OBO by getting involved. Witticisms, prognostications, desires, and a host of other nouns are welcome: simply dial 0 and ask your operator to connect you to geoff.lemon@theguardian.com, or send a twittergram via the other line to @GeoffLemonSport. Please and thank you.
Teams
England
Alex Hales
Jonny Bairstow
Joe Root
Eoin Morgan *
Ben Stokes
Jos Buttler +
Moeen Ali
Chris Woakes
Adil Rashid
Tom Curran
Mark Wood
West Indies
Chris Gayle
John Campbell
Shai Hope +
Darren Bravo
Shimron Hetmyer
Jason Holder *
Carlos Brathwaite
Ashley Nurse
Devendra Bishoo
Sheldon Cottrell
Oshane Thomas
West Indies win the toss and will bowl
Given the numbers we’ve seen fly by recently, it’s understandable that a team would rather know how much the chase is, rather than try to guess what it should be.
Preamble
Welcome to the Isle of Madness. Gros Islet, St Lucia is playing that role today, after other Caribbean locations have filled in over the past couple of weeks. By which I mean, we’re about to finish off one of the most extraordinary One-Day International series that the format has seen. Three matches have been successfully staged, and a total of 2083 runs have been plundered in just under 295 overs.
It has been carnage. Absurdity. Scores of well over 300 being chased, and over 400 being nearly chased. Two centuries to Chris Gayle, who made a comeback in the format, announced a retirement, and then suggested he might come out of retirement before having gone into it. Hundreds to anyone who wants one, really. Morgan, Buttler, Root, Hetmyer, Roy. Eleven of the top 14 run-scorers in the series have a strike rate of over 100. We are all living in Run City.
In the fourth match, Jos Buttler made 150 from 77 balls. At the same time, across the world in a T20 International in Vizag, Glenn Maxwell for Australia was making a matchwinning 113 not out from 55 against India. The pair’s bat sponsor Kookaburra made a mash-up of their faces and suggested fusing them into one. The only logical name for this character would be: Gloss Batwell. The shiniest and the best. With the World Cup approaching, batting is reaching its evolutionary peak.
But that doesn’t mean, as per the complaints of some, that bowling is now pointless and useless. To the contrary: even during these run-fests, the bowlers who have been able to produce an economical spell, to slow the damage, to draw a mistake, have still turned matches. The West Indies would have chased 418 if Adil Rashid hadn’t been good enough to knock them over right at the end. And amongst the frenzy, England got bowled out for 263 in Bridgetown to lose.
Which brings us to the last part of the equation. The series score is 1-2, with one game washed out. Meaning that England can win it if they win today, or West Indies can square it up at their final attempt. All to play for, all the momentum in the world behind both teams, each believing they can do incredible things. Because they already have. We’ve got one more episode in this drama. Let’s see how it ends.
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