Key events
17th over: England 83-0 (Beaumont 27, Jones 49) Time for drinks and a slurp of something luminous and a scratch of the chin for West Indies.
16th over: England 78-0 (Beaumont 26, Jones 45) If you need something doing… West Indies skipper Hayley Matthews brings herself on to bowl in an attempt to break this burgeoning opening partnership from England, Jones and Beaumont, (Beaumont and Jones) don’t give her a sniff though, working the gaps and taking the singles.
STAT ALERT: These two love batting together and Charlotte Edwards has rekindled the magic. Beaumont and Jones have now shared over 1,000 runs as an opening pair in ODI cricket – England’s fourth most productive opening pair in ODI history.
15th over: England 73-0 (Beaumont 23, Jones 43) Raf Nicholson is our correspondent at the county ground and she sends in a starter for ten whilst watching Amy Jones make hay under leaden skies:
“When’s the last time Amy Jones opened for England in an ODI..?
The answer is, July 2019 at Canterbury – the day when Ellyse Perry went mad. Jones got a duck, by the way.”
She’s positively cruised so far today, half century within sight.
14th over: England 70-0 (Beaumont 22, Jones 41) Claxton then serves up another late swinger that beats Jones, angled in and moving away late! Maybe this ball is starting to talk under the clouds and with the lacquer off? No mither for Amy Jones, she crunches the following ball back past the bowler all along the floor for four runs.
13th over: England 59-0 (Beaumont 22, Jones 32) Beaten! Better from Alleyne as she draws Jones into a booooming drive and moves the ball away late.
Some ‘orrible grey clouds linger at the back of the ground…
12th over: England 57-0 (Beaumont 21, Jones 31) Double change for West INdies as Jahzara Claxton is summoned into the attack. She starts with a decent yorker that Jones does well to keep out. The openers trade quick singles and then Jones frees the hands once more, skimming a short and wide ball through cover and emphatically into the hoardings. Do not bowl there.
11th over: England 51-0 (Beaumont 20, Jones 26) Aaliyah Alleyne gets the nod from Matthews but her first over of bustling seam is worked around confidently by Beaumont and Jones*. Fifty up for England.
*You’d buy with confidence from Beaumont and Jones wouldn’t you? Life insurance? Luxury candles? Overpriced paint?
10th over: England 45-0 (Beaumont 17, Jones 23) Fraser hasn’t been at the races yet today with the new ball, she drops short again and Jones scythes past point for four more. Ten overs gone and England’s new opening pair ticking along nicely at 4.5 runs an over.
*Adopts Springsteen Growl*
‘Is there anybody alive out there?!’
Send us a missive at james.wallace.casual@theguardian.com (Please)
9th over: England 39-0 (Beaumont 16, Jones 19) Biff! Amy Jones looks in fine fettle here, she plants her front foot to Zaida James and goes over the top for four.
8th over: England 35-0 (Beaumont 16, Jones 15) Did Amy Jones get a tickle on a leg-side ball from Fraser? There seems to be a spike when the ball passes the face but the umpire gave a wide. The keeper fumbled anyway but I think that goes down as a missed chance for the visitors.
7th over: England 29-0 (Beaumont 13, Jones 14) Amy Jones threads between point and gully for four with immaculate timing. The batters rotate strike, an untroubled start so far for England.
6th over: England 22-0 (Beaumont 12, Jones 8) Beaumont rocks back and pulls Fraser for four through midwicket. She picked that up early but the ball did seem to kick on off the surface. Beaumont lets her partner know the intel she has gleaned. There’s something there for the bowlers if they can find it. Beaumont flicks for two down the ground to make it six off the over.
5th over: England 16-0 (Beaumont 6, Jones 8) Shot! Amy Jones unfurls a lovely cover drive for four that traces away across the baize.
4th over: England 12-0 (Beaumont 6, Jones 4) Jones is undone by a beauty from Fraser that leaves the new opener grasping and groping outside off stump. There’s decent carry off the wicket but no huge movement off the pitch or through the air at the moment.
3rd over: England 10-0 (Beaumont 5, Jones 4) Jones is very strong off the back foot and she gets going with a punch wide of mid-on for four.
Kate Cross is the designated vice captain today as she returns to the side and together with Charlie Dean and Sophia Dunkley will serve as Sciver-Brunt’s ‘leadership group’ for this ODI series.
2nd over: England 6-0 (Beaumont 5, Jones 0) Beaumont is given a wide full toss by Cherry-Ann Fraser and the pint-sized batter clatters it for four to get England’s first boundary. Plenty of chat in the field from West Indies who are buzzing about, as well they might – it looks chilly and blustery in Derbyshire.
1st over: England 1-0 (Beaumont 1, Jones 0) A quiet start with just a Tammy Beaumont single to the open the home side’s account. Amy Jones hasn’t opened the batting for six years (since the 2019 Ashes) but I for one like this move by England, Jones has all the talent and I think will relish the new role and opportunity to set the tempo at the top of the order.
The players emerge under grey skies. Zaida James is going to open the bowling to the new England opening pair of Tammy Beaumont and Amy Jones. Let’s play!
Confirmed Teams:
England: Tammy Beaumont, Amy Jones (wk), Emma Lamb, Nat Sciver-Brunt (c), Sophia Dunkley, Alice Capsey, Em Arlott, Charlie Dean, Kate Cross, Linsey Smith, Lauren Bell
West Indies: Hayley Matthews (c), 2 Qiana Joseph, 3 Ziana James, 4 Shemaine Campbelle, Gajnabi, Mandy Mangru (wk), Aaliyah Alleyne, Jahira Claxton, Cherry-Ann Fraser, Afy Fletcher, Karishma Ramharack
West Indies captain Hayley Matthews confirms she would have chosen to bowl first anyway and suggest that there might be some assistance from the wicket early on.
I think the wicket looks all right but it could get a bit slower,”
says Sciver-Brunt after choosing to bat.
There are ODI debuts for Em Arlott and Linsey Smith. Alice Capsey replaces Heather Knight and it looks like there’s change afoot at the top of the batting orde – Amy Jones moved up to open and Emma Lamb at first drop.
We have nine games before the World Cup starts so it’s a great chance to start looking forward to that.”
England win the toss and choose to bat first
Good news! The rain has passed over and the coin has been tossed. Nat Sciver-Brunt wins it and decides to have first use of the wicket. There are rumblings that the England XI will include a couple of debutants as Charlotte Edwards looks to shake up the ODI team.
Raining at the moment – toss delayed
Gah! –Those clouds are hanging about and making a nuisance of themselves in Derby, we’ll have a bit of a delay to the toss and start time. More as we get it…
In the meantime – why not have a read of Emma John’s piece on the globetrotting Sikander Raza:
Preamble
James Wallace
Hello and welcome to the OBO of the first ODI between England and West Indies from Derby.
Charlotte Edwards and Nat Sciver-Brunt will be quietly content with how the early days of their reign as England Head Coach and Captain have gone with a 3-0 clean sweep of West Indies in the T20Is. There are grey clouds though, and not just the ones rolling in over the Peak District and looming over the county ground at Derby as we speak.
Former captain Heather Knight is out for the entire summer with a hamstring injury that she sustained in the final T20I in Chelmsford on Monday, a real shame for her personally and England’s batting card is weakened without her class and experience in it. That last match also saw England slip into old and bad habits from the winter of discontent just gone as a series of catches were fluffed.
Edwards has promised higher standards across the board and so all eyes on England’s fielding today, as well as their batting and bowling of course – which has been pretty good.
The match starts at 1pm and the toss and teams are imminent. If you want to join in and offer thoughts, theories, pearls of wisdom or just to let me know your favourite condiment then hit the email link on the left.
