Key events
9th over: England 42-0 (Duckett 33, Bethell 5) Bethell steals a quick single to Dube who hits with his throw from mid on but the young’un makes it home safe. Duckett charges Krishna and nails him over cover for four. Shades of the Harry Brook special in that shot.
8th over: England 37-0 (Duckett 29, Bethell 4) Kohli denies Bethell four with a sharp stop at shot cover. Say that ten times fast. Duckett gets the next on through though, lots of bottom hand in the drive for four. SIX! Duckett moves across his crease and scoops over the keeper and beyond the rope. Brar didn’t like it and he hurls the ball back at Duckett/the stumps after fielding off his own bolwing the next ball. Fetch that! Duckett has the last laugh with a top edged pull for SIX more to make it seventeen off the over.
7th over: England 20-0 (Duckett 13, Bethell 3) Just a couple off Bumrah as Duckett clips off his hip. It’s been a quiet start from England but India’s openers have been right on it. Gurnoor Brar is coming on with his medium pace actually quite fast seamers, we might see a few more shots played now…
6th over: England 18-0 (Duckett 11, Bethell 3) Bethell has a thick tramline of zinc across his chops, reminding me momentarily of Dominic Cork in his pomp. Two runs off Krishna, the crowd comes to life as Kohli pulls off a smart stop in the covers. He looks perky does Virat, when does he not?
5th over: England 16-0 (Duckett 10, Bethell 2) Bumrah gets some steepling bounce with his bullwhip action and beats Duckett twice in the over. Just a Bethell glance for one to fine leg.
Do you remember the first time last time these two sides met at Edgbaston in this format?
4th over: England 15-0 (Duckett 10, Bethell 1) A brief pause while Duckett gets some magic spray on his poorly hand. Bethell is still on nought off ten balls, if this was T20 cricket he’d be having a shocker but there’s plenty of time to catch up in this format. A quick single up to mid on sees him off the mark, maybe he picked his fielder there – it was Shivam Dube who had a bit of a mare in the field during the T20 series. Four to Duckett who flicks Krishna off his hip with ease. The outfield looks rapid.
3rd over: England 9-0 (Duckett 5, Bethell 0) Ouch! Bumrah generates some bounce and thuds a nasty delivery into Duckett’s glove. Duckett shakes his hand instantly like a man handling a hot plate with a wafer thin tea towel. He gets some respite by stealing a single into the off side. Close! Bethell pokes with no foot movement and is lucky not to nick off. Bumrah is, as you’d expect, an absolute handful.
2nd over: England 8-0 (Duckett 4, Bethell 0) Prasidh Krishna is sharing the new nut and he runs in to bowl to Jacob Bethell. His first ball keeps low, scuttles under Bethell’s bat and beats the keeper too. Prasidh is nippy and there is movement through the air and off the pitch. Bethell defends and misses an attempted pull. Nowt more off the over.
1st over: England 4-0 (Duckett 4, Bethell 0) Bumrah’s first ball snakes off the pitch, Duckett watches it closely, defending into the off side. He plays and misses at the next one… and the next! Bumrah gives Duckett a cheshire cat smile, he’s getting some big movement away to the left hander with the new white ball. Inswinger coming surely… sure enough a booming inducker is next up and it smashes into Duckett’s shin! BUT it pitched outside leg, so no dice.
Four! Duckett slams a cover drive. Decent cat and mouse in the first over.
Give us a shout if you are tuning in? Go on!
Bumrah lurks at the top of his mark. Ben Duckett is on strike for England. Up for this. Let’s play!
The players emerge onto a sunny Edgbaston outfield, there’s a breeze blowing across the ground and the temperature is in the low 20s. Ideal conditions for cricket. England sport their powder blue kit and India are in their customary sky blue. Fitting as it is ‘Blue for Bob’ Willis day.
India aren’t exactly flying in ODIs either by the way. They have lost three of their last six bilateral ODI series – to Sri Lanka and Australia away and New Zealand at home. Their team is packed with heavyweights – Kohli, Rohit, Bumrah, Gill and KL Rahul but they haven’t played a lot recently and there could be some rust on their usual gleam. Bumrah hasn’t played in this format since the World Cup in 2023!
TEAMS:
England have gone with a spin heavy attack. India have opted for pace.
India: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar, KL Rahul (wk), Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Gurnoor Brar, Prasidh Krishna.
England: Ben Duckett, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root, Harry Brook (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Jofra Archer, Liam Dawson, Josh Tongue, Adil Rashid
Jos Buttler is playing his 200th ODI. His family were with him in the huddle as Eoin Morgan presented him a commemorative cap. A lovely moment.
Buttler will bat down the order today as Jacob Bethell is going to open up. Jasprit Bumrah will be steaming in at him in about 20 minutes. Good luck, lad.
England win the toss and choose to BAT first
Ravi Shastri conducts the toss in customary sonic-booming fashion and Harry Brook gets the rub of the coin. He sounds a little unsure but confirms England will have first use of the wicket and look to get a commanding total on the board.
Shubman Gill says he would have bowled first anyway. So there.
England have gone to number one in the world in the T20 format, they’ve won 20 of 23 completed games under Harry Brook’s captaincy and deserve plenty of credit for that. It’s a different story in the 50 over stuff though, with just three wins in nine matches and a feeling that it has been the lesser loved cousin compared to Tests and T20s.
Preamble
James Wallace
Who likes fifty over cricket? C’mon, hands up, don’t be shy. What do you mean you don’t remember fifty over cricket? It’s the one in between the really long one and the really short one. It’s got elements of both, what’s not to like? Oh and there’s a World Cup in this exact format next year. Remember England won that one in 2019? You do! ‘The barest of margins!’ Yes! That was fantastic, wasn’t it? Well, erm, yes – they did stink the place out four years later and have an incredibly patchy record in the format in recent years but now the white ball stuff is Brendon’s sole focus and him and Harry have got them flying in the 20 over stuff so surely it is going to rub off or transfer into the fifty over squad. Surely. That’s just obvious. Its osmosis or something, right? Plus Rooty’s back! Love Rooty, he can do it all. Virat’s playing too? And Rohit? Whaaaat – Bumrah as well! ICC Ambassador, you’re spoiling us.
Welcome to the OBO of the first ODI between England and India from Edgbaston. It’s a three match series and should be a belter. There’s plenty to get stuck into, in more detail than the above paragraph too, would you believe.
Play starts at 11am BST. Shall we?
