- Twenty20 over-by-over updates from the Riverside
- West Indies win by 21 runs in one-off T20
- Barney Ronay: Root’s path to top could be harder to follow in future
Right - that’s all from me. The ODI series gets underway on Tuesday at Old Trafford. Join us then! Night!
20th over: England 155 all out (Curran 1) A valiant effort from Liam Plunkett ends with Carlos Brathwaite taking out his leg stump. Three for 20 for Brathwaite, who has captained exceptionally well, combined with three for 35 from Keswick Williams and excellent catch sees them win this one-off T20i, in difficult conditions. This whole squad dropped in for this match and many were wondering if they’d show up given the cold and the wet. They’ve absolutely bossed matters and shown why they’re reigning World T20 champs.
19th over: England 151-9 (Plunkett 14, Curran 1) A bouncer nearly takes Tom Curran’s nose off. But he digs out a slower yorker to grab a single and then runs hard to ensure Plunkett has the strike for final over. England need 26 from the final six balls. Carlos Brathwaite to bowl the last over. Remember him?
For a second, I thought Chris Jordan got all of that. A wristy, MS Dhoni-esque flick to midwicket lands into the safe hands of Powell, who has been a involved and reliable presence out in the leg side this innings. Tom Curran is the last man in...
18th over: England 145-8 (Plunkett 12, Jordan 4) That’ll help. Plunkett crunches a slower ball from the returning Jerome Taylor down the ground for four. And when another is served up, Plunkett’s onto it again – this time finding space out at deep midwicket.
32 needed from 12...
17th over: England 132-8 (Plunkett 1, Jordan 2) Singles and nothing more. That asking rate is now through the roof. England need 45 from the last three overs.
This. All this:
Obviously good players play well even when it's cold, and the whole premise is based on odd British assumptions
Circling the drain now. Bairstow tries to go with the spin of the off-cutter, attempting to heave it over square leg. He ends up clothing it to the fielder monitoring the deep.
16th over: England 127-7 (Bairstow 25, Plunkett 0) Brilliant from Narine, as he finishes his spell beating the bat of the right-handed Plunkett. His figures: four overs, no maidens, two for 15. Gamechanging.
A bit of turn away from Narine but not much. Enough to see Willey charge and completely miss. Out stumped by a couple of yards.
15th over: England 124-6 (Bairstow 23) Change in the order with Adil Rashid promoted ahead of David Willey. He can manouerve the field but you do wonder if some Humpty from Willey wouldn’t go amiss here. I guess we’ll find out. A wicket with the first and then with the last ball of that over from Williams.
53 needed from 30...
Cracking bumper from Keswick Williams. Rashid looks like he’s caught between trying to ramp it and sway out of the way. In the end, he does neither. Gloved through to the keeper.
BIG! Buttler slaps a short (slower) ball to Powell, who sets himself at midwicket and takes a smart catch.
14th over: England 118-4 (Buttler 30, Bairstow 19) Bairstow tries to finesse Pollard through backward point but can’t quite create the angle required to send it to the boundary. Buttler top-edges down to fine leg as he tries to sweep a ball from outside off stump, but it falls well short of Sunil Narine, who started back on the sponge. Just as the focus from the commentary box turns to Bairstow needing to take the pressure off Buttler, the Yorkshireman launches Pollard over long off!
Answers on a postcard:
1,000 T20 international runs for @josbuttler!
He's only the 4th English batsman to score that many.
Can you name the others?#bbccricketpic.twitter.com/i1fGcfiEa9
13th over: England 108-4 (Butler 28, Bairstow 10) Keswick Williams returns for his second over. It’s mainly cutters so Buttler’s attempted scoop just dribbles through to the keeper. Most of the work between these two are being done with their feet. Buttler and Bairstow both have the capacity to turn the switch in, say, the next over. But I imagine there’s someone in particular they fancy. Perhaps Pollard?
The Sky Sports pod. Good idea.
In July.
Enjoying the weather, @BumbleCricket?? #ENGvWI
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12th over: England 101-4 (Buttler 24, Bairstow 9) Change of tact now as Pollard comes into the attack with his tricksy mediums. Varies his lengths more than his pace in the shortest format, so it’ll be interesting to see how Buttler will play him, with fine leg and third man up. A junk delivery – back of a length, angling down the leg side – is helped along to fine leg for four.
76 needed from 48
11th over: England 83-4 (Buttler 12, Bairstow 4) Before the over begins, the umpires decide to change the ball. So that’s a few more minutes wasted. It’s been an hour and we’ve only bowled 10 overs! When we do get going, Bairstow picks up his first boundary thanks to a misfield at midwicket by Kieron Pollard.
Worrisome numbers if you’re Eoin Morgan. Probably won’t be happy about that pen pic either...
Anyway, he's made one fifty in all formats since making 87 at Edgbaston vs Australia on June 10. Twenty-one innings.
9th over: England 77-4 (Buttler 8, Bairstow 2) Both England wicketkeepers at the crease. Both guardians of England’s success in this chase. Nurse is a bit too full and Jos drives through the covers, beating the fielder in the ring and the boundary rider on the fence. A clean 100 needed from 66 balls now...
8th over: England 69-4 (Buttler 1, Bairstow 1) Really smart from West Indies, this. The pitch is starting to play a bit tacky and so Narine and Nurse are just trying to get it stopping but bowling into the surface. Morgan’s wicket the just desserts for building pressure effectively.
Not quite the wheels falling off for England, but there’s certainly a few bolts loose and scattered on the road. Morgan goes for a reverse sweep, connects well enough but finds the hands of Evin Lewis, up in the ring at fine leg.
Morgan now has 12 runs in his last seven T20 innings
7th over: England 68-3 (Morgan 2, Buttler 1) Bonus wicket, that. And imagine it’ll be spin at both ends with Ashley Nurse’ off-spinners and, presumably, Narine continuining. On Cow Corner, David Keech emails in with some Wikiknowledge:
“The location of cow corner depends on a batsman’s handedness, but it is always a part of the field in the deep on the batsman’s leg side, typically stretching from forward of deep midwicket to backward of long on. The diagram shows the location of cow corner for a right-handed batsman.The cow corner is named as such because it is usually a quiet region of the field, such that cows grazing in the region would be unbothered even during a match.
Now then... two new batsmen at the crease as Joe Root hits an innocuous off-spinner to short-cover. Brathwaite, diving to his left, makes no error. Here’s Jos...
6th over: England 64-2 (Root 16, Morgan 0) The final over of the Power Play, bowled by an increasingly exasperated Brathwaite, starts with four leg byes. A slower ball to follow is too wide and allows Joe Root to do what he does best. The two cover fielders had no chance. Fired up, Brathwaite takes out his frustration on Hales and sends the opener packing. Like his previous boundaries, Hales was dancing all over the place. A bit of movement into him found him wanting.
Right through him! Brathwaite, not a happy chappy right now, gets through Hales and takes out his off stump. West Indies back in the game...
5th over: England 55-1 (Hales 43, Root 11) Sunil Narine – box of tricks – takes this over. Holds a few back, forces a few through, drops the last ball short so Hales can cut through the offside (he’s 43 from 18, now). We’ve officially got a game, now.
4th over: England 50-1 (Hales 39, Root 10) Carlos Brathwaite bringing himself on. Took three-fer in the World T20 Final, by the way. Often forgotten. Understandably. Root heaves a two to the leg side and then plinks one where a bat pad might have been. The umpires take the time to have a chat. Not entirely sure why, but it looks like they, along with the West Indies players, are concerned about how slippery the outfield is. Brathwaite, though, is happy to get on with it. Finishes the over with a short ball which Hales flicks over to the leg side for Hales’ eighth boundary. He’s currently 39 from 14. England’s fastest T20 fifty in his sights...
“Who’s got the fastest?” I hear you ask. Strap in...
On the plane?
"Where's that gone!?"
What a shot @AlexHales1!
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3rd over: England 43-1 (Hales 35, Root 8) Quick, swinging delivery from Taylor – but swinging down the leg side – sees Root flick effortlessly over fine leg (up in the circle) for four. Similar faces Hales, though on his toes, and the wrist work to get that square through the leg side is impeccable. Four more. And another from Hales! This time he walks away to square leg and smears a similar line through cover! AND HE’S FINISHED THE OVER WITH A SIX! Ridiculous player. Short ball from Taylor is swivel-pulled over the leg side sponge and into the stands. Decent.
Yeah but can Hales do this on a warm Tuesday afternoon in Port of Spain...? #engvwi
2nd over: England 24-1 (Hales 21, Root 3) Slight delay in this over as wicketkeeper Chadwick Waltonover-extends his left-knee when he has to change directions when chasing a ball down the leg side. Luckily, he’s OK to continue. Now, where were we...
Bit of Tim Bresnan about Keswick. Bustles in, built like a “you’re not coming in here with trainers” type. Even jumps wide to get that angle into the right-hander. A neat trick but not one Hales is succumbing to. Second ball, he blazes him over the fielder at midwicket for four. Another back of a length delivery – only 82mph – is smeared over cover for another four, as Hales gives himself room. After the restart, he threads one through extra cover and then top-spin forehands one down the ground. Silly form, Hales is in.
1st over: England 8-1 (Hales 5, Root 3) Roy demise, a tidy start as Root finds three around the corner at square leg before Hales times the pants off one, back past the bowler, for four more. Good pace from Jerome Taylor. Keswick Williams, right arm fast medium, from the other end...
WICKET! Roy out first ball of the innings
0/1 #ENGvWI
Live: https://t.co/Y5NV0iqvZdpic.twitter.com/EjkbUeKsqf
I hope you didn’t plough the mortgage onto my shout, just then. Roy gone first ball of the innings! Checks a shot to Evin Lewis at backward point.
Pitch still looks good, regardless of the dramatic dip in scoring – that came about through the loss of personnel rather than a change in the surface – so England are favourites. Especially with the wetness around. A few drinks and the new white ball will be like a bar of soap. Should effectively nullify the usually unflappable threat of Sunil Narine.
Quote my mother: "why do they call it cow corner? Does every ground have one"
20th over: West Indies 176-9 (Nurse 13, Williams 2) Kesrick Williams accompanies Nurse once Taylor goes. Crucially, he gets Nurse the strike who then uses all his might to crank one down the ground for six! Two brisk yorkers ensure an un-Kolkata finish of two singles.
Considering Lewis and Gayle had England chasing their tail at 77-0 in the seventh over and then 106-1 in the 11th, it has been a fantastic fightback from Eoin Morgan and his bowlers. Plunkett the pick of them, Rashid a trusty supporting hand, both of them finishing with three wickets.
Haha oh amazing! Usually batsmen at least try and pretend the ball hasn’t hit their leg when struck in front. Taylor, though, is rubbing his knee before the umpire’s put his finger up. Right in front of off stump.
19th over: West Indies 167-8 (Nurse 6, Taylor 1) Curran’s slower ball is bunted back to him. He finishes with one for 46. Chris Jordan to bowl the final over...
Still got the full 40-overs on the cards, which is nice. Tom Curran has a ball to bowl before we go into the final over of the West Indies innings...
RESTART AT 8.20PM, with no overs lost. Watch #ENGvWI, live on Sky Sports Cricket (404) and Main Event (401). https://t.co/REqKh38WIspic.twitter.com/dGzZqKVjgD
19.5 overs: West Indies 167-9 (Nurse 6, Taylor 1) Oooh... poor Curran. Having had his first ball dropped by a diving Plunkett– Nurse getting away with a strike down the ground – he’s smeared for his fourth six by Powell, over midwicket. Again! It was a low full toss that deserved to go the distance, to be fair. There’s a big, emasculating delay as the ball has been tonked out of the ground but Curran refocuses and gets his man. A couple of balls later and the rain is just too great to continue playing. We’re off with seven balls in the innings to go. Unless the rain goes on for about 20-minutes, we won’t lose any overs.
Just as the rain starts to pick up, Curran’s able to get a good enough grip to bowl a slower ball. Powell heaves it high into the dark clouds and Chris Jordan, running in from midwicket, takes the catch.
18th over: West Indies 158-7 (Powell 22, Nurse 4) Jordan’s wayward start with a couple of wides that gives Powell a sighter. Granted, that sentence is covered in hindsight because, third legitimate ball, Powell sets himself and bludgeons a slower ball over midwicket for a huuuuuuuuuuuge six! Got to be the biggest of the innings.
17th over: West Indies 147-7 (Powell 15, Nurse 1) Tom Curran, having been tonked off his first two overs, returns with a spring in his step. A bit of pace conks Nurse on the helmet – via a top edge – and an array of slower balls (one wide) offer little for these two lower order batsmen to work with.
T20I best for Adil Rashid #ENGvWI
16th over: West Indies 142-7 (Powell 13) Rashid finishes his set of four with three wickets, just like Plunkett. So unflustered. It’s such a shame his Test days seem over.
Full, dipping from Rashid, while Narine’s low and rising. A slog sweep only finds air. The ball pings Narine on the shoe. Off he goes.
West Indies making a dog's dinner of this: from 106-1 to 138-6
Brathwaite tries to engineer an angle to access the area behind square on the leg side. Translation: he shows all three stumps. Rashid bowls him around his legs.
15th over: West Indies 138-5 (Powell 11, Brathwaite 2) Chris Jordan, three overs left, returns from the end that Liam Plunkett bowled through. Powell slashes an edge inside third man for four. Some better running between these two means they can take six from the other five balls. The boundary options seem few and far between.
14th over: West Indies 128-5 (Powell3, Brathwaite 0) Carlos Brathwaite in upon the wicket of Walton. Excellent from Rash, as he just allows three singles.
And another! West Indies in danger of falling well short here. Walton tries to get under a shorter ball from Rashid, but top edges high to the leg side, where David Willey runs in from the boundary to complete the dismissal.
13th over: West Indies 125-4 (Walton 12, Powell 1) Excellent spell of three for 27 from Plunkett.I did wonder why he didn’t get called upon in the Power Play, but he’s made up for it by playing a hand in getting rid of both openers and then seeing off Samuels and Pollard, too.
WICKET! @liam628 is on fire as @_TC59 catches Pollard on the boundary!
WI 123/4 after 12.2 #ENGvWIpic.twitter.com/wkzqqMrrbt
Plunkett, into his last over, gets a third. And it’s an excellent catch from Tom Curran at fine leg. Pollard top edges a hook down to Curran who has to scoot back before taking the ball high over his head.
12th over: West Indies 122-3 (Walton 10, Pollard 6) Rashid backing up Plunkett’s handy work. One ball goes for four when he shoots it out of the front of his hand, allowing Pollard to tickle one around the corner. But Walton and Pollard have to watch the rest off the pitch and, as a result, can’t entertain going for a big finish just yet.
11th over: West Indies 116-3 (Walton 9, Pollard 1) Two wickets but also a right ol’ biff from Chadwick Walton, who sends Plunkett into stands at straight midwicket. Ridiculous hit – wasn’t even a bad ball! “Great to have cricket to view,” writes Ian Copestake. “It is as if the summer has not left us. Must be freezing out there though.I can’t however tell from the shape of the spotlights which ground this is.” Hope the Lumley Castle reference from Ian Ward has helped! Naturally followed by a Shane Watson mention:
Another for Plunkers. This time he follows Samuels who gets in a tangle and pops one up to Root at midwicket.
Sorry Evin. He mullers a full ball from Plunkett – perfect shape and everything – but Plunkett’s extra nip hits higher on the bat and Root takes a tracer bullet in both hands.
10th over: West Indies 106-2 (Lewis 51, Samuels 10) We were focussing on Gayle early on, but Lewis’ half-century has come off 26 balls. Priod to this match, he’d gone past fifty three times and two of those turn into hundreds. Joe Root’s back on for his second over and is dealing in nowt but darts. Good ones at that. Just seven from the over.
9th over: West Indies 99-1 (Lewis 48, Samuels 8) Extra pace just keeping Samuels honest for now as he tries to give himself room to go through the off side. A slower ball allows Samuels to do just that: doesn’t move his feet, sways back and knocks it on the head past point and outside third man. Four. This stat somes up Lewis – picks up pace where others might dawdle...
Since 01/01/16 Lewis’ run rate after the Powerplay of 11.69 RPO is the highest of any player to have faced at least 200 balls. #ENGvWI
8th over: West Indies 93-1 (Lewis 47, Samuels 3) And here is Rashid. Starts with a wrong-un, which Samuels clatters into his own pad. Against Lewis, there’s good drift but too much, allowing the left-hander to swing down the ground, over wide mid off for four bits. Goes again in the same region… but gets enough on it for his third six!
7th over: West Indies 80-1 (Lewis 37, Samuels 1) Morgan sticking to his usual T20 plans. Liam Plunkett on immediately after the Power Play. Expect to see some Adil Rashid soon enough, too. Plunkett’s first ball is tickled around the corner for four but he does end up with the wicket of Gayle. Job done.
Windies Powerplay score of 72 is the second highest Powerplay score ever at Chester-le-Street. The highest is 74. #ENGvWI
I suppose it was always going to be a run out, wasn’t it? Gayle chugs to the nonstriker’s end as Jason Roy swoops at point and throws to Liam Plunkett, who puts the flashing bails to work. A foot short of his ground.
6th over: West Indies 72-0 (Gayle 40, Lewis 31) Call the police. There’s been a massacre. Curran’s on the receiving end of a final over of brutality to finish the Power Play. Lewis goes Six down the ground, four away to square leg and then six over midwicket off the first three balls! One run off the final three balls though. That’s something. Right?
5th over: West Indies 55-0 (Gayle 40, Lewis 14) Chris Jordan starts with a slower ball to give Gayle a single. Chris Jordan continues with a slower ball... and Lewis cracks it through cover for four. Jordan tries to get the ball moving away from Gayle when he gets back on strike... two over cover, one just short of the rope, the other a few rows back!
Decent hit [/Alan Hansen]
Huge hitting from Gayle to become the first player to hit 100 IT20 sixes!
WI 40/0 #ENGvWI
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4th over: West Indies 39-0 (Gayle 29, Lewis 9) Tom Curran into the attack.... and then into the stands! Another full ball is pinged back over the Surrey quick’s head. A slower ball squares Gayle up nicely, but the short ball that follows is helped over cover for four. With Lewis on strike, Curran nearly gets him out caught midwicket, but a dive from the fielder is in vain. So is the dive from Alex Hales right on the boundary, as he skims the sponge while clawing the ball back into play. Four more.
3rd over: West Indies 24-0 (Gayle 18, Lewis 5) David Willey drops short and Gayle decides he wants to free his arms and slaps over midwicket for his 100th international T20 six! Next ball – 101! Willey overcorrects with a half-volley and Gayle just swings effortlessly through the line of the ball. And it’s a good evening to John Starbuck. “If there’s no real weight on this game then it becomes what T20 was supposed to be all along – just entertainment. True, it’s good to see the likes of the IPL stars in action but whatever the outcome there should be no real consequences, unless someone stupidly gets injured.” I suppose all cricket is entertainment, but I understand what you’re saying. But you can’t learn anything or improve your T20 prospects with just one-off matches. Good that Durham are able to host some international cricket, though.
2nd over: West Indies 11-0 (Gayle 5, Lewis 5) A page out of the World T20 Final playbook as Eoin Morgan opts for Joe Root’s off-spin from the other end. He took two for nine in Kolkatta with his only over of the innings. Gayle was one of them, holing out down the ground. Evin Lewis, though, thumps the fourth ball over extra cover for his first boundary. Decent over from Root, mind. A few variations in there. Finishes with a quick Afridi leggie.
1st over: West Indies 7-0 (Gayle 5, Lewis 1) David Willey takes the new ball. Immediately after Nasser talks about his ability to swing the white ball, Willey finds movement through the air immediately and takes Gayle’s edge. Far from a chance as it drops well short and out to the left of Joe Root at first slip and away for four runs. Both openers find singles into the leg side.
An email from Andrew Benton: “I think no Stokes is good - if he has another disappointment like Kolkata it could affect him for the whole winter, especially if it happens on his home ground.” Would say that’s a tad melodramatic, not least because there’s nowhere near the sort of weight on this match was there was on that 2016 World T20 Final.
Players out there. LET’S CRICKET!
If you look up "absolutely freezing" in dictionary there is a photo of Ward, Hussain and Lloyd sat in a chip van on the boundary in Durham
Our first correspondenceof the day comes via Twitter (you can also email longer thoughts into vithushan.ehantharajah.casual@theguardian.com
@Vitu_E evening vish! This should be good
The most unsporting acting act of 2017?
Evin Lewis was one hit away from a T20 century in the CPL.
Then this happened... pic.twitter.com/47EdbhcDSp
Eoin Morgan tries by fails to give this game context. Carlos Brathwaite, who is only in the country for this fixture as West Indies captain as he’s not in the ODI squad, is as genial as ever. Good to see Adil Rashid back in an England shirt.
England XI: Hales, Roy, Root, Morgan, Bairstow, Buttler, Rashid, Willey, Plunkett, Jordan, Curran
Evening ladies and gents. After a long season that has seen England host two world tournaments, two Test series and a heck of a lot of domestic cricket – congratulations Essex and Nottinghamshire, so far – we’re here. The middle of September. Somehow, with two rounds of the Championship to play and six limited-overs internationals before cricket is actually over. Well, for a few weeks before the players fly out to Australia for the Ashes. Being an international cricketer is a hell of a gig, but it has its drawbacks. Nevertheless, we crack on.
A one-off T20i against the reigning T20 champions is a bit odd considering there were three against South Africa earlier this summer. But West Indies have travelled in force: the big guns in tow, including Ben Stokes vanquisher Carlos Brathwaite (in case you’d forgotten the name). None of the 13 in the squad were part of the Test series.
Vish will be here soon.
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