Ruthless. A word that England’s red ball captain shakes his head at, and yet at first examination, a word that befits England’s 50-over side under their new captain, Harry Brook.
A 238-run margin of victory against the West Indies – ruthless. Scoring 400 runs having been put into bat on a cloudy day – ruthless. Taking 10 wickets inside of 26 overs – ruthless.
Speaking for the first time as a fully-fledged England captain back at the beginning of April, Brook stated that “I just want us to play with aggression and be 100% committed”, a style of play that we have certainly become accustomed to, having followed England’s Test match progression under Stokes and McCullum for the past three years.
With the promise of fireworks, excitement was palpable as crowds began to surge in at midday, decking out a packed Edgbaston with a sea of blue, as the ‘Blue for Bob’ day commenced. With former Prime Ministers and cricketing legends in attendance, the day was always going to be special.
Having been put into bat under cloud, the tried-and-tested Ben Duckett combined expertly with first-time opener (in List A) Jamie Smith to reach 50 within the first 6 overs. Smith falling to Alzarri Joseph in the 7th over did not stem the flow of runs, as Duckett continued to score, reaching his half century in just 34 balls as England had reached 90-1 after 10 overs.
Half centuries from Root and Brook, as well as an assured 37 from Jos Buttler, having stepped down as England’s white-ball captain following their dismal Champions Trophy campaign back in March, contributed to posting the highest ever One Day International total without a century.
Brook looked in fine touch for his 58, his captaincy clearly not weighing him down as he cleared the boundary rope on three occasions with apparent ease, before timing a low cut too well, and finding Keacy Carty at deep point.
But it was Jacob Bethell who starred for the hosts, scoring a quickfire 82, and combining with Will Jacks for a 98-run partnership in just 48 balls to close out the innings. Bethell arrived back in England last week, after a stint in the IPL with Royal Challengers Bangalore, where he experienced opening the batting with the iconic Virat Kohli. His performance with the bat today showed levels of maturity far beyond his 21 years, settling in behind his elegant defence, and shouldering arms when needed, then shifting into gear with a range of controlled pulls and sweeps to take the game away from the Windies. His innings will not only cement his place in the white-ball side, but it will also reopen the debate around his Test selection. Speaking to the media after the match, Brook was full of praise for the all rounder – “He batted beautifully. When one of us gets going, it’s pretty hard to stop us – and he showed that today. He’s going to be some player for a very long time”.
There will be little positives for the West Indies to take away from their performance in the field, but whilst sloppy with their ground-fielding, their catching was outstanding – Roston Chase took a blinder at backward point to send Duckett back to the sheds, and Brandon King took a brave catch at midwicket to dismiss Smith, following it up later with the catch of the match, running back a considerable distance from mid off to long off, and diving blind and backwards to dismiss the dangerous Jamie Overton.
Jayden Seales took 4 wickets, but his economy rate of 9.3 an over reflects the kind of day it was for his bowling attack – “Just not good enough”, as put by Darren Sammy, speaking to the media after the match.
England’s bowlers matched the dominant tone as set by the batters moments before, striking early through Saqib Mahmood in the third over, as Justin Greaves feebly picked out the captain at wide mid-off. That set the tone for the rest of the Windies’ innings.
Shai Hope and Keacy Carty looked confident for their respective 20s, but the gulf of class between the two teams was evident as England ripped through the visitors order, taking just over half the allocated overs to get the job done. Jayden Seales continued his relatively successful day, coming in at number 11 and swinging violently, giving the visitors something to cheer about as he ended unbeaten on 29 off just 14 balls, including 3 particularly entertaining maximums.
Saqib Mahmood was unlucky to only take 3 wickets in the end, bowling with a notable vigor, challenging all modes of dismissal quite regularly. Jamie Overton returned to the field after an injury scare, taking 3 wickets as he polished off the tail, although it has to be said that he was met with minimal resistance from said tail. Adil Rashid took two wickets on his 150th ODI appearance, having been presented with his landmark cap earlier that day by his old captain, Jos Buttler. Jacob Bethell and Brydon Carse took one wicket a piece, with the latter taking a Stokes-esque screamer at deep square leg, to dismiss Shai Hope, off the bowling of Mahmood. Carse initially had misjudged Hope’s wild pull into the deep, running forward only to then backpedal, lifting his coiled body in the air to take a blind catch, landing safely on the ground to the deafening roars of the then sunkissed and potentially inebriated crowd.
So, West Indies 162 all out in response to England’s grand total of 400-8. The perfect start for England and Harry Brook, but dismally disappointing for the West Indies, who did not bring the best version of themselves to Edgbaston today.
England will be hoping for more of the same as they head to Cardiff for the second ODI of the three match series, on Sunday, whilst Darren Sammy and Shai Hope will have lots of thinking to do if their West Indies side has any chance of getting back into this series.
Excellent report