Morgan’s Ton Offers Victory To England In The First ODI

With the utmost positive commencement, England began with a victory in the ODI series against West Indies on the West Indies turf. English skipper Eoin Morgan came forward with a spectacular ton in the same, to offer a respectable total to his team, leading from the front.

On the grounds of Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua, the hosts West Indies won the toss and elected to bowl first. This was followed by few quick wickets from the English side, including the huge wicket of batsman Joe Root (4 runs off 5 balls).

However, Sam Billings kept holding one of the ends with his handy knock of 55 runs, for which he took only 56 deliveries and hit 7 fours.

On the other side, Morgan played a patient captain’s knock of 107 runs off 116 deliveries. He also hit 11 fours and 2 sixes in the same. Billings and Morgan put up a stand of 67 runs for the third wicket to lift up a once drowning English team.

Apart from them, Ben Stokes too came up with a handy knock of 55 runs in 61 balls, hitting 3 sixes.  With the final efforts from Adil Rashid (31 runs off 22 balls, 2 fours), England was able to amass a reputable total of 296 runs in their stipulated 50 overs, for the loss of 6 wickets.

Among West Indies bowlers, Shannon Gabriel and Ashley Nurse were lucky enough to get a couple of wickets each, while spinner Devendra Bishoo got a single wicket.

With a considerable target to chase, West Indies openers Kraigg Brathwaite (14 runs off 26 balls, 1 four) and Evin Lewis (21 runs off 33 balls, 2 fours) offered a confident start to the team, adding 36 runs for the first wicket.

However, the hosts kept losing wickets at regular interval and almost never looked in the position to win the match. The West Indies attack was led by batsman Jason Mohammed, who played a useful inning of 72 runs off 91 deliveries, hitting 7 fours in the same.

Apart from him, Jonathan Carter (52 runs off 47 deliveries, 4 fours, 2 sixes) and wicketkeeper Shai Hope (31 runs off 38 balls, 2 fours) too played handy knocks, but all these went futile.

The entire West Indies team succumbed to a score of 251 runs in just 47.2 overs. They lost the first One Day International against the English side by a margin of 45 runs, thus trailing the 3 match’s series 0-1.

Among the English bowlers, pacers Chris Woakes and Liam Plunkett grabbed 4 West Indies wickets each, while Adil Rashid the spinner got 1 wicket.

English skipper Eoin Morgan was chosen as the Player of the Match for his spectacular ton in the winning cause of his team. This is his 10^th in his international ODI career.

The second ODI between the two teams would be played on the same ground on Sunday, 5^th March, with hosts looking to level the series with a victory. Visit us for latest sport news.