England go down despite Lumb century

Cricket365
February 28, 2014

A sterling recovery from the West Indies middle-order helped the home side to a competitive 269/6, which proved more than enough to secure victory over England in the first ODI at North Sound.

England won the toss and chose to field, and the West Indies innings was very much a tale of two halves, as the visitors proved utterly dominant in the opening 25 overs, only for the West Indian middle-order to grab the innings by the scruff of the neck and post a competitive total.

There was a wicket apiece for Joe Root, James Tredwell, Tim Bresnan and debutant Moeen Ali as the Windies quickly found themselves reduced to just 45/4 in the 16th over.

Dwayne Smith, Kieron Powell, Kirk Edwards and Darren Bravo were all sent back to the pavilion with little to show for their collective efforts, and it seemed as if a complete capitulation might be on the cards, but Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Bravo and Darren Sammy had other ideas.

The trio each scored a half century, with Sammy's 61 off 36 balls the highlight of the late innings assault and Bravo's 87 not out of 91 balls and Simmons' 65 off 94 providing the bedrock as the West Indies compiled a solid 269/6.

England fans would have been nervous over the prospect of two debutants opening the innings, but Michael Lumb and Moeen Ali made the most of their opportunities.

Ali provided 44 runs in an opening 96-run stand before being dismissed by Dwayne Smith, while Lumb went on to become only the second England batsman to score a hundred in his debut ODI before Ravi Rampaul finally sent him back for 106.

At that point, England were 180-3 with 13 overs to go and seemingly well in control of the run chase, but as so often happens, Lumb's departure precipitated a mini-collapse, with Ben Stokes, Joe Root and Jos Buttler falling in quick succession.

That left Ravi Bopara and Tim Bresnan at the crease, but Bopara's 100th ODI would not be one to remember. With the fall of wickets having slowed down the run rate, and the likes of Sunil Narine, Dwayne Bravo and Ravi Rampaul putting the squeeze on in the final overs, Bresnan and Bopara could not prevent the required rate from rising.

While they were not dismissed and no wickets fell in the last five overs, England finished six down and 15 runs short of the target as their innings petered out in disappointing fashion.