West Indies’ captain Shai Hope plash a shot towards England in the course of the first ODI cricket match at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua and Barbuda
| Photo Credit: AP
Shai Hope’s century and Romario Shepherd’s speedy 48 powered West Indies to a four-wicket victory in the series-opening ODI as England’s hopes of rebuilding after its disastrous Cricket World Cup obtained off to a false begin in Antigua on Sunday.
England scored a powerful 325 all out in 50 overs at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium however captain Jos Buttler made his fifth single-figure rating in eight one-day internationals after being dismissed for 3 off 13 balls.
The whole seemed to be sufficient as West Indies was decreased to 213-5 in the thirty ninth over however Hope’s unbeaten 109 off 83 balls and Shepherd’s 28-ball 48 underpinned a exceptional residence triumph with 326-6 in 48.5 overs.
Hope’s three sixes in 4 balls off the costly Sam Curran, who price 98 in 9.5 wicketless overs, helped the Windies recover from the road.
There had been positives for England. Harry Brook top-scored with 71 off 72 balls whereas opener Phil Salt amassed 45 off 28. Curran did higher with the bat than ball, hitting 38 off 26, and Brydon Carse scored 31 not out off 21 to elevate England past 300 after a middle-order wobble.
Rehan Ahmed (2-40) was the decide of England’s assault nevertheless it was unable to pin down a facet which didn’t qualify for the World Cup.
The hosts had solely chased down 300-plus totals thrice in ODIs however their try to overhaul the best 50-over whole at this venue started brightly courtesy of the extremely rated Alick Athanaze with 66 runs off 65.
The left-hander, main run-scorer on the 2018 Under-19 World Cup, feasted on Curran’s waywardness, hooking a six in the primary over earlier than ending the facility play with a mighty mow off Gus Atkinson.
Brandon King (35) was much less fluent however placed on 104 alongside Athanaze earlier than Ahmed separated the pair.
Keacy Carty made simply 16 in a 39-ball keep and the run-rate was steadily escalating when Shimron Hetmyer walked to the crease. Both Hetmyer and ODI debutant Sherfane Rutherford had been caught on the boundary off Atkinson and Ahmed respectively as West Indies went into the final 10 overs requiring 106 runs for victory.
Hope went effortlessly via the gears, rotating the strike nicely. He went previous 5,000 ODI runs earlier than, with 90 wanted off 48 balls, Shepherd went on the assault to Curran, muscling two leg-side sixes in an over containing 19 runs.
The forty fifth over, additionally bowled by Curran, went for 15 and the forty seventh by Carse was taken for 17 as Hope and Shepherd turned the tide.
While Atkinson took out Shepherd lbw, Curran was powerless to cease Hope repeatedly hammering him over the rope because the hosts claimed victory with seven balls remaining. (AP) TAP
