A look at the early stages of England’s ODI tour of the West Indies and a photo gallery.
An England men’s white ball squad is currently in the West Indies for a three match One Day International series. This series has been arranged because England owe West Indies a favour dating back to 2020, when it was West Indies who travelled to play in England under stringent covid restrictions, and have not been able to repay it until now. This post looks at what has happened so far.
THE ENGLAND SQUAD
England travelled with a necessarily experimental squad, the multi-format players being required for the upcoming tour of New Zealand the start of which overlaps with this one.
ENGLAND’S CHOSEN XI
England named four debutants in the XI – Jacob Bethell, a batter who bowls a bit of left arm spin, Dan Mousley, enough of an off spinner to be described as a batting all rounder, Jamie Overton, making an ODI debut at the age of 30 and down to bat at number eight an known to not be fit enough to bowl, and John Turner, a fast bowler and number 11 batter. The side as a whole was inexperienced, with Adil Rashid, a leg spinner officially listed to bat at number ten, having more career ODI runs than any of his team mates. However, no degree of inexperience could excuse the horror show of a batting performance that was about to unfold.
FAILURE TO ADAPT
West Indies won the toss and put England in to bat. For all that is named in honour of an all time batting great and one of the first players to truly master the art of limited overs batting, the Sir Viv Richards Stadium rarely provides pitches on which batting is straightforward. On that basis one might argue that a total of 204 in 45.2 of a possible 50 overs was not a terrible achievement. However, it was the manner in which the innings developed that was so very disappointing. Virtually every dismissal was self inflicted, and the mistakes leading to those dismissals were all of the same type – essaying cross batted shots on a pitch on which hitting the ball straight was a necessity. One or two such dismissals could possibly be allowed for, but the collective failure/ refusal to adapt to the nature of the pitch was inexcusable. Liam Livingstone and Sam Curran batted best in a poor display, but neither could get as far as 40.
The West Indies was delayed by rain, and then interrupted again by more rain, but there was not enough rain to save England. Evin Lewis played a superb innings which put the ‘efforts’ of the England batters into sharp perspective.
A large part of the problem (and something that the ECB are to blame for) is that the best English white ball players only now play 50 over cricket in an international setting – the English domestic One Day Cup because of when it takes place is basically a tournament for second team and youth cricketers. Thus they approach the game with a T20 type mindset and rapidly become impatient if they are not scoring at high speed. The second match of this series takes place today, starting at 1:30PM UK time.
A look back at last night’s ODI series decider between West Indies and England, an all time XI with given names beginning with O as its theme and a photo gallery.
Last night saw the deciding ODI of the series between West Indies and England. That and an all time XI of players where the main focus is having a given name beginning with O form the bulk of today’s post.
WEST INDIES V ENGLAND DECIDER
As you will see it is more than usually appropriate that the heading of this section of the blog is in maroon, the colour of the West Indies.
Rain delayed the start significantly, and the by the time of the toss the match was reduced to 43 overs per side instead of 50. West Indies won the toss and put England into bat. Matthew Forde made an international debut in place of Oshane Thomas for West Indies and Matt Potts replaced Brydon Carse for England.
Ford bowled outstandingly with the new ball and was rewarded with three very quick wickets. Alzarri Joseph then struck twice, though he only got officially credited for one – a brilliant piece of fielding off his own bowling that in conjunction with a hesitation between the batters led to a run out was the one for which he got no credit, a terrible shot that led to a first ball duck for skipper Buttler was the one that he did get credit for. At that point England were reeling at 49-5. Liam Livingstone and Ben Duckett then shared a big partnership, and it looked like England’s early collapse might not be terminal.
England’s spinners bowled well, and the West Indies looked like failing in the chase on several occasions. Then, at the crucial moment, with the run rate definitely looking challenging for WI, and on a pitch on which extra pace had been at best a dubious asset (Forde, so successful for WI, is a medium pacer, and WI’s next best bowlers were their own spinners Motie and Cariah) Buttler entrusted Atkinson with an over. Atkinson immediately started trying for yorkers, and served up two delicious full tosses which both went for sixes. In total this over yielded 24 runs, and the result was no longer in doubt. WI duly won by four wickets and took the series.
There have been signs of promise from England this series, with Jacks and Salt looking like a decent opening pair, Jacks bowling well yesterday, Livingstone faring decently as an all rounder and Duckett’s innings yesterday, but there are also obvious problems, the biggest of them being Buttler’s inadequacy as skipper. West Indies bowl better than they bat (which as anyone familiar with my blog knows is the way round I would prefer things if I had to have a side that was stronger in one department than the other), with Forde a hugely promising new comer, Alzarri Joseph and Oshane Thomas both good pacers and Cariah and Motie good spinners. The batting is a trifle too dependent on Shai Hope for comfort, but they did the job yesterday without him making a huge score.
ORCHESTRATING AN ALL TIME XI
Today pick an all time XI with the theme being players whose given names begin with the letter O. I have had to resort to a couple of cheat picks to complete the XI, but nine of my players do indeed have given names beginning with O.
THE XI IN BATTING ORDER
Octavius Radcliffe (England, right handed opening batter, occasional off spinner). A west country based amateur of the late 19th century (born and died in Wiltshire, turned out for both Gloucestershire and Somerset, the former of which helped get him a place on the 1891-2 Ashes tour, skippered by WG Grace), and his record compares reasonably with those of a similar vintage.
Felix Organ (Hampshire, right handed opening batter, off spinner). One of my ‘cheat picks’, and picked more on potential than actual achievement. He does have a name beginning with O, but not his given name.
Ollie Pope (England, right handed batter, occasional wicket keeper). An excellent FC record and a respectable test record which he is well capable of improving. Number three has been his best position for England.
Owais Shah (England, right handed batter, occasional off spinner). In common with many an English player of vintage he has a good domestic record while having done little of note at international level.
O’Neill Gordon ‘Collie’ Smith (West Indies, right handed batter, occasional off spinner). He was killed in a car crash while in the process of establishing himself. He had done enough to earn his place in this XI.
Azmatullah Omarzai (Afghanistan, right handed batter, right arm medium fast bowler). My second ‘cheat pick’, he has shown himself to be a fine player, and I expect him to improve further.
+Oliver George Robinson (Kent, Durham, Wicket keeper, right handed batter). For me he should second choice for England men’s test wicket keeper right now behind Ben Stokes. He has recently moved from Kent to Durham, and the move north has not adversely affected his batting average, proof positive that he is genuinely skilled in that department, not merely a beneficiary of southern climes and pitches.
Omar Henry (South Africa, left arm orthodox spinner, left handed batter). The first non-white cricketer ever picked for an official South Africa XI, though that came too late in his career to for him to really benefit, 443 Fc wickets at 25.17 and 4,566 FC runs at 27.34 with five centuries and an HS of 125 show him to have been a fine cricketer when in his prime.
Oliver Edward Robinson (England, right arm fast medium bowler, right handed batter). When fully fit he is a formidable bowler. It is the necessity of that caveat that is problematic.
Odean Brown (West Indies, leg spinner, right handed batter). Yet to play international cricket, but 255 FC wickets at 23.00 is a respectable record.
Olly Stone (England, right arm fast bowler, right handed batter). Has been plagued by injuries, but when fit he is a devastating bowler.
I cannot pretend that this is a great XI, but it has a functional opening pair, a respectable 3,4,5, a hugely promising all rounder at six, a class keeper/ batter and four decent front line bowlers, though two of those would be injury worries.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Most of these are players who would merit consideration for a limited overs XI but not for a long form one. There are three exceptions: Ossie Wheatley and Oliver Hannon-Dalby established fine records bowling right arm fast medium at county level, and if worried about having both OE Robinson and Stone in the XI one of these two could replace OE Robinson, though it must be noted of Wheatley that he was a genuine liability except when actually bowling. Aussie Women’s leg spinner of the 1990s Olivia Magno was also a genuine candidate for the slot I gave to Odean Brown. Oliver Rayner, an off spin bowling all rounder, had to be overlooked due to the number of front line batters in this XI who could bowl off spin if needed. Four West Indians would in the mix if not on the team sheet if I were selecting with limited overs in mind: Obed McCoy (left arm seamer), Odean Smith (right arm seam bowling all rounder), Omari Banks (off spinner who could bat) and Oshane Thomas (right arm fast bowler, excellent in limited overs, but has an awful record in long form matches).
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
“Red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning” – not really needed in an English December, but accurate.A pair of Canada Geese in the Great Ouse (six pictures total)Lapwings enjoying the exposed mudflat at a bend in the Great Ouse (several pictures)Four Lynx buses parked up at Lynn InterchangeAn Excel Bus awaiting passengers.
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