Key events
8th over: West Indies 53-1 (King 28, Carty 23) Carse is flicked off the pads by Carty for four and then a regal drive sees Carty hold the pose as he sends the ball skimming to the fence. This is brilliant batting from West Indies and Carty, the sun has come out and England have been a bit wayward with the ball and in the field.
Carty plays another uncomplicated drive for for four and follows up with a delicious drive through mid-on for the fourth boundary of the over. Carse grabs his cap and mutters a few expletives that are picked up by the stump mic. Ooooh Pardon!
7th over: West Indies 36-1 (King 28, Carty 5) Matthew Potts replaces Mahmood and Brandon King takes a shine to the Durham seamer. A short ball is dispatched for four through square and then a rasping drive sends a half volley pinging through the covers.
6th over: West Indies 25-1 (King 19, Carty 3) DROP! Duckett again! A thick edge from King off Carse and Duckett can only palm it over the bar in the slips. He’s usually a very safe pair of hands but he is a bit too short to be in the slips, sorry to all the little guys out there, but that would have been swallowed by anyone over 5ft9. Am I being short-ist? Will I get cancelled. A bit of frisson for a Sunday morning. England and Duckett have shelled two regulation chances this morning.
King rubs salt in the wound by swivelling a pull for four in some style.
5th over: West Indies 17-1 (King 11, Carty 3) Mahmood peels off a tight over for just two runs. He’s unhappy with some of the footmarks though so the groundstaff hurry out with a mallet and get thwacking. Carty nudges and sprints a quick single, West Indies have to rotate the strike and pick up waht they can. It’s tough out there at the moment.
4th over: West Indies 15-1 (King 11, Carty 2) Keacy Carty is shelled by Ben Duckett! A length ball is poked to the pint sized Notts man at second slip and he chooses to go with one hand when he could haver grasped it with two. It was a decent height and very catchable – Duckett will be annoyed he didn’t take that. Brydon Carse certainly is.
Carse then slips King a yorker that misses the off stump by a gnat’s eyebrow. What a ball, late swing taking it away from an emphatic clean bowled at the very last second. Another brilliant over from the impressive Carse.
3rd over: West Indies 14-1 (King 11, Carty 1) King unfurls a princely cover drive for four off Mahmood. That whistled across the Sophia Gardens baize. Eeeesht! The bowler responds with an absolute peach that angles in and decks away late, leaving the batter hoping and praying there’s no edge.
2nd over: West Indies 6-1 (King 4, Carty 0) Keacy Carty is the new batter for West Indies. He’s been in good form of late, peeling off a couple of centuries on the recent tour of Ireland.
WICKET! Jewel Andrew c Jacks b Carse 0 (West Indies 6-1)
Oh no! After giving him the big build up the teenage sensation 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.
