Key events
WICKET! Jewel Andrew c Jacks b Carse 0 (West Indies 6-1)
Oh no! After giving him the big build up the teenage senasation Jewel Andrew is on his way for a duck. Brydon Carse get some bounce and hits the splice, Andrew guilty of playing with hard hands in front of his body and a simple catch is looped to Will Jacks close on the off side. England have their first and Carse peels off an impressive wicket maiden to start.
1st over: West Indies 6-0 (King 4, Andrew 0) Saqib Mahmood struggles with his line in the first over, shonking two balls down the leg side. He then over-corrects and a wide ball is splayed away through the off side by King to open up the Windies account. Ooof! two beauties from Mahmood to end the over – angling in and then jagging away late, beating the outside edge on both occasions. Looks to be a bit in the wicket, England on the hunt for early wickets with two slips in place.
Righto, here come the players. Brandon King and 18 year old Jewel Andrew to open up for West Indies. Andrew is another precocious talent who is setting tongues wagging with his batting skills. He’ll be the youngest opening batter for West Indies in ODIs.
“The world will be amazed by his talent” Shai Hope told me last week in an interview for today’s match programme. Plenty to look forward to then, let’s play!
Ian Bishop and Michael Atherton have been discussing Jacob Bethell on Sky, Bishop knows his dad well from years ago and he admits that there is a pang of regret that the Barbados raised kid is playing for England. There’s a lot of noise about Bethell, remember he is yet to score a century in professional cricket but is already an international cricketer in all three formats and has been rubbing shoulders with Virat Kohli in the IPL. I’m not one for hyperbole but five minutes of watching him bat and you can see he has something special.
Teams:
England: Jamie Smith, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Jacob Bethell, Will Jacks, Brydon Carse, Adil Rashid, Matthew Potts, Saqib Mahmood
West Indies: Brandon King, Jewel Andrew, Keacy Carty, Shai Hope (c & wk), 5 Shimron Hetmyer, Justin Greaves, Roston Chase, Matthew Forde, Alzarri Joseph, Gudakesh Motie, Jayden Seales
Shimron Hetmyer comes in for Amir Jangoo for West Indies.
Their captain Shai Hope is in Judge Dredd shades and knows his side need a big response today.
“It’s a three-match series and we need to turn it around, come out and be positive. We have to be smarter, got to find a way. Ready to go today.”
England win the toss and will bowl!
Shai Hope calls incorrectly and Harry Brook has no hesitation in inserting the visitors. It’s breezy and bright in Cardiff.
“There’s a bit of grass so we should get a bit out of the pitch early on.” Says Brook. “Potts is banging on the door in all three formats, but a shame Jamie (Overton) has gone down… we want to keep smashing away, be more ruthless.”
Smashy and No-more Nicey.
Preamble
James Wallace
Hello and welcome to the second ODI between England and West Indies from Cardiff. Harry Brook’s tenure as the new white ball captain got off to a barnstorming start at Edgbaston on Friday as the batters racked up 400 runs and then skittled Shai Hope’s West Indies for just 162 runs.
The weather is set fair at Sophia Gardens and we’ll have the toss and team news imminently, we already know England’s XI – Jamie Overton is ruled out with a finger injury and Matt Potts comes in to the pace attack.
Jacob Bethell put the cat further amongst the pigeons on Friday with a scintillating knock that further backed up those who are calling him a generational talent. Anyone else reminded of the situation with Kevin Pietersen in 2005 (Bethell has got a penchant for a dodgy barnet too…) JUST GET HIM IN!
Play starts at 11am. Do get in touch if you are tuning in.
