Key events
19th over: England 128-3 (Crawley 24, Brook 6) Shepherd returns, and is more economical than during his first stint until Crawley cuts squarely at his last ball and pockets four.
18th over: England 121-3 (Crawley 19, Brook 4) Cairah, face covered in suncream, twirls in. Just a handful of singles.
“ATAA, a bit of Antiguan sunshine on You Tube is the perfect antidote for a freezing Berlin afternoon, “writes Mark Beadle, “and the way Duckett got out did make me laugh out loud.”
17th over: England 118-3 (Crawley 18, Brook 2) Ah, I’ve now learned that Thomas played in England earlier this year – for Frocester. Read it here and do drop me a line if you had the misfortune to gsvr him. Crawley eyes up a wide one from Thomas and spatchcocks it through the covers for four.
16th over: England 110-3 (Crawley 12, Brook 0) Time for Duckett to hit one last four before the bowling change does the trick! Cariah makes a breakthrough with his whippy, wristy leg breaks. Enter Harry Brook in his 14th ODI match – averaging only in the mid twenties.
WICKET! Duckett b Cariah 20 (England 110-3)
Duckett tries to tickle-scoop Cariah’s fourth ball but loses his bails in the process.
15th over: England 105-2 (Crawley 11, Duckett 16) Lucky, lucky Duckett, as he flashes wildly at Thomas, yet picks up four. Around the edge of the ground there seems to be an attempt to recreate the atmosphere at the old Recreation Ground, as a couple of dancers in fully regalia gambol along the boundary edge. Thomas aims wide of Duckett’s stump, on the edge of legality, then when Duckett can at last get bat on ball, a brilliant pouch by Athanaze prevents the boundary.
14th over: England 100-2 (Crawley 10, Duckett 12) A Crawley special, kissed through the covers for four.
13th over: England 92-2 (Crawley 4, Duckett 11) Thomas keeps it tight – very tight – just a single from it as well as an lbw shout. “A good line from Oshane Thomas,” purrs Ian Bishop.
“Good Morning Tanya, Good Morning everyone.” Hello Adam Roberts!
“I live in the West Indies. I pay a lot of money for tv, with hundreds of channels, including 22 dedicated sports channels. Currently, three games of cricket are being shown, but WI v England is not one of them. I think the word I’m looking for might be: Doh!”
How can this be?!
12th over: England 91-2 (Crawley 3, Duckett 11) Duckett reverse-sweeps for four. Reverse sweeps for four again. Motie thoughtfully spins the ball from hand to hand as the sun beats down. Crawley dabs through the onside for a well-run two and grins.
11th over: England 79-2 (Crawley 0, Duckett 2) Another switch, this time to Oshane Thomas, steady, heavy-footed approach. Just one off a throughful over. West Indies have done well here to stop the England runaway train.
“I suppose if you’re picking a batsman who can bowl a bit,” writes John Starbuck, “then two of them, in Livingstone and Jacks, makes more sense than a full specialist in either discipline. It’s a point of view.”
10th over: England 78-2 (Crawley 0, Duckett 1) And so the Test band comes back together. Duckett off the mark with a scrambled single.
“Watching from Taiwan, coming to 10:00pm local time,” writes David Melhuish. “If any overseas enthusiasts want the free visuals, may I recommend the Windies YouTube channel.” Thank you David.
“Nice to see Buttler, assess the benign batting conditions and try to make some hay while the sun shines. Nice strike rate from 5 overs!”
WICKET! Jacks c Hope b Joseph 26 (England 77-2)
Jacks beaten by one that screams through the channel and explodes off the pitch. This has suddenly become a bit more interesting.
9th over: England 77-1 (Jacks 26, Crawley 0) Enter the unfamiliar, though unmistakeable, figure of Zak Crawley in coloured kit. Motie on point straight away as Crawley content to watch his first four balls.
WICKET! Salt c Carty b Motie 45 (England 77-1)
Neatly pouched with both hands by Carty, as Salt steps wide to cut and can only send the ball to cover. He fumes back to the dugout.
8th over: England 76-0 (Salt 45, Jacks 25) Joseph changes ends – and is despondent as Motie on the rope contrives to kicks the ball over the boundary. Jacks swings and misses. A relatively miserly over.
7th over: England 70-0 (Salt 44, Jacks 20) Hope turns to left-arm spin, in the shape of Motie: with a swift bowling arm and a little goatie. Four singles before Jacks drops to sweep but the ball is wide, and eludes both him and the keeper before skipping down to the boundary.
6th over: England 59-0 (Salt 42, Jacks 16) Fifty up in the blink of an eye, as Salt picks up three boundaries in Shepherd’s over: four through backward point, six nearly into the hills rising above the ground and and another four screaming through the covers.
5th over: England 43-0 (Salt 36, Jacks 16 ) There is a tinkling sound on the comms – can’t work out if it is cow bells, someone doing the washing up, or music. Anyone out there who might let me know? And wow, – Salt flicks Joseph, like Jay Gatsby might idly swat at a fly, for six. Jacks four more, over midwicket.
Hello Matt Winter. “Watching the incessant rain and Ronnie O’Sullivan, so I will rely on you for detail as to when this match tips from irrelevance into farce. Hoping for some fight from the West Indies.” Hmmm, yes, my teenager just left the room calling the match ‘pointless ‘– but it is paying for his Christmas presents so what does he know.
4th over: England 32-0 (Salt 20, Jacks 12 ) Another stylish shot by Jacks, who stands tall and sends Shepherd rocketing over the dry outfield through point for four. The ground looks blissful, steps cut out of the hillside where spectators lounge in the sun. From what the cameras show at least, this game has attracted more England supporters than locals.
3rd over: England 25-0 (Salt 18, Jacks 7 ) Just a dreamy drive on the up over extra cover for six, off Joseph. Jacks up and running and a good start for England.
2nd over: England 19-0 (Salt 18, Jacks 1 ) Shepherd, two gold chains, two black sleeves, one white ball. The pitch, the ground, is yellow dry. We pause three balls in while the umpires tell the players that DRS is down. Salt swats a six over square leg, a square drive for four.
An email drifts by – hello Gary Naylor! “As I’ve never been convinced that Liam Livingstone gets in Lancashire’s best XI for 50 overs cricket, I’m amazed that he’s survived the World Cup debacle. They’d be better off picking Steven Croft.”
Six games, averaging ten with bat plus three wickets at fifty odd. You’re right, but he still possesses that seize the game by the scruff of the neck quality which England so value.
1st over: England 8-0 (Salt 8, Jacks 0 ) Joseph strides in giantly from the Sir Andy Roberts End. Salt inside edges friskily the first ball, and whallops the fourth for four, bouncing just before the boundary. An inside edge down to the long leg boundary follows.
It doesn’t look packed at the ground though there are a fair scattering of Brits. Good to see Phil Salt applying some moisturiser to his hands. And here come the players.
With ten minutes to do, we gaze at a statue of the noble Sir Viv. Do send me your thoughts on cricket and life this chilly afternoon. Meanwhile, Daren Sammy the West Indies white ball coach, gives credit to the groundsman: “It looks like a really good wicket, normally here there are some ridges, but what I’ve told my men is that we play accordingly. Yes we want to play a brand of cricket, but we can only play a brand of cricket that the surface allows.”
Simon Burnton is our man at the ground, and he spoke to Will Jacks about his hopes for the series.
We see a little video package with Jos Buttler – he looks a different man to the haunted figure who floated wan and disorientated around India.
Teams: West Indies
West Indies: Brandon King, Alick Athanaze, Keacy Carty, Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Yannic Cariah, Alzarri Joseph, Gudakesh Motie, Oshane Thomas.
Shai Hope would have bowled first, and Ottis Gibson says to expect moisture in the wicket early on.
Teams: England
England: Jacks, Salt, Crawley, Duckett, Brook, Buttler (c, wk), Livingstone, S Curran, Carse, Ahmed, Atkinson.
England win the toss and will bat!
To the background of palm trees, Buttler calls heads, and heads it is. “We want to make first use of it with the bat,” he says. “Experience and exposure” for the new boys and he is keen to play “our brand of cricket” and – “get on the front foot.”
In the UK coverage is on TNT sport, and we’re in the studio with Kate Mason, and an intense looking Alastair Cook and Ottis Gisbon.
Preamble
Good afternoon from a chilly, snow in shady corners, Manchester. Back a time zone or four, England’s B-string side – or in Jos Buttler’s words “a new beginning” – are raring to go for a three-match ODI series at the Sir Vivian Richards stadium, Antigua.
Only six players remain from the disastrous World Cup campaign, Butler, plus Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse. West Indies, who went one worse than England and didn’t even make the World Cup, are led by Shai Hope.
Five T20s follow before Christmas. Play starts at 1.30 GMT. Join us!
