England v West Indies – First ODI, Fischer County Ground Leicester, 6 June 2019
The West Indies squad looked ready for action as they warmed up in their striking ultra-marine track-suits before the game, But after only one ball you could sense it might all end leaving them feeling thoroughly blue. Amy Jones deposited it over the long-leg boundary for six. She and her partner Tammy Beaumont had 50 on the board in the seventh over.
Hopes went up when first Beaumont, then Sarah Taylor failed to keep shots on the ground and were caught, but in came the England captain, Heather Knight, to banish any thoughts of a collapse.
Both batters are in outstanding form these days. They can play the ball all round the wicket and hit it painfully hard. Stafanie Taylor tried out all her bowlers, but they had no further success till Hayley Matthews’ off-spin caused Jones (91) to mis-time the ball to mid-off. Knight too took one risk too many and perished in sight of three figures.
The pair had scored a magnificent 146 together and the hosts were sailing past 200.
The lower order did their job well to see the total top 300 once again. Few sides are going to match that with confidence.
There were just two sets of pain in the England innings: neither Sarah Taylor nor Dani Wyatt got going, and neither of the two big scorers turned 90s into 100s.
Mark Robinson had created a minor surprise by including Kate Cross rather than another batter or a spinner. Once more his judgement proved spot on.
On this occasion, Any Shrubsole wasn’t on target after the break. Knight whipped her off after two untidy overs and on came Cross to partner the hostile Katherine Brunt. They made the pitch look like a death-trap, Cross finding lift that hadn’t been visible before. She can take pride in her analysis of 5-2-12-1. Brunt’s 5-2-6-2 looks quite ridiculous in the cold light of day.
Kycia Knight, who doubles as keeper and opener, found life particularly difficult; her innings developed at a snail’s pace.
Chedean Nation was the one batter to get her head down and sell her wicket dearly, but no-one managed to stay with her to build partnerships.
When Sophie Ecclestone came on, she presented a new set of problems the batters didn’t enjoy. We mustn’t analyse them – Australian eyes might see them exposed – but her analysis reads 10-2-30-2. When Laura Marsh joined her from the Bennett end West Indian travails doubled. She finished with 9-3-30-2, and that excludes the one sitter dropped by an English fielder in the deep – by a fielder some might consider the finest they possess. She put things right by taking a sharp catch at slip to finish things off and give Sciver a wicket in her only over.
Looking back
The West Indians knew they had a real challenge on their hands, coming to a ‘cold’ England in early June, but their skipper Stafanie Taylor was frank about their shortcomings. The problem is how to resolve them in the short period before the next joust at Worcester on Sunday. They have plenty of talent in the squad, but there was indecision in much of their batting, and the bowling was hindered by some really scrappy ground fielding. That at least can be worked on hard over the intervening 72 hours.
Result:
England 318-9 (Knight 94, Jones 91, Beaumont 32, Sciver 32)
West Indies 110 (Nation 42)
England won by 208 runs
Teams:
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England |
West Indies |
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Amy Jones |
Hayley Matthews |
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Tammy Beaumont |
Kycia Knight |
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Sarah Taylor |
Shemaine Campbelle |
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Heather Knight (C) |
Stafanie Taylor (C) |
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Nat Sciver |
Chedean Nation |
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Danielle Wyatt |
Kyshona Knight |
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Katherine Brunt |
Stacy-Ann Knight |
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Anya Shrubsole |
Chinelle Henry |
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Laura Marsh |
Afy Fletcher |
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Kate Cross |
Shakera Selman |
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Sophie Ecclestone |
Shamilla Connell |
