365 Sporting Days

This is going to be another blog with more photos than words and those photos will tell the story of the game. (lots of Rohit again!) I’m going to add them in differently this time, posting each innings after I’ve written about it. (lots of Rohit again!)

The first ODI between England and India took place at Trent Bridge.  I travelled up in the morning with my friend Tina, we drove to the Park and Tram stop just off the M1, its a great way to get to the ground, just £2 return on match day, and you get a lovely walk along the river.

This series was billed as a competition between the best 2 ODi sides in the world. England had set a new record at Trent Bridge, scoring 481 runs against a depleted Australia a few weeks earlier.

This would be a very different game, Virat Kohli won the toss and put England in to bat, that might have seemed crazy thing to do taking into account that innings against Australia.  But, it proved to be a masterstroke!

In common with the T20 in Bristol England started well, Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow put on 73 for the first wicket, the scorecard makes for interesting reading, they both made the same score from the game number of balls, 38 from 35 balls.  But it was Roy who went first, he was caught by Umesh from the bowling of Kuldeep, the beginning of what was going to be a very good day for Kuldeep!

Joe Root faced just 6 balls before being bamboozled by Kuldeep, he was trapped Lbw for just 3 runs.  Jonny Bairstow befell the same fate 4 balls later and England were 82 for 3.

Eoin Morgan and Ben Stokes were at the crease, could they cope with the Indian spin?  Morgan not so much, he was caught by Raina from the bowing of Chahal with just 19 runs to his name.

Jos Buttler joined Stokes and the pair batter with some accomplishment, Stokes played the consolidation role that Joe Root so often plays, Buttler who has been outstanding for England so far this summer batted for 81 minute, facing 51 balls.  He made 53 before Kuldeep had him caught by MS Dhoni.  He and Stokes had moved England to 198 for 5 in the 39th over.

Ben Stokes had played an incredibly patient innings batting for 130 minutes he made 50 fro 103 balls before becoming Kuldeep’s 5th wicket.  He was caught by Kaul and the 23 year old had his 5fer!

Moeen Ali made 24 runs, Rashid 20 and Liam Plunkett 10 and Kuldeep ended with 6 for 25, he was largely responsible for England making only 268, the crowd weren’t going to be treated to a runs fest at Trent Bridge this time round.

The 268 scored by England didn’t feel like anywhere near enough and Rohit Sharma in particular made short work of the runs chase as he put on another batting exhibition.  Shikhar Dhawan lost his wicket to Moeen Ali who had him caught by Adil Rashid for 40, India were 59 for 1.

Virat Kolli joined Rohit and made his own contribution the the batting display he made 75 having faced 82 balls, India were well on their way to wining when he was stumped by Buttler from the bowling of Rashid , the two had put taken India to 226 for 2.

Rohit, who was a delight to watch made 137 runs from 114 balls and hit fifteen 4’s and four 6’s finishing not out.  India made the runs required with nearly 10 overs to spare and by 8 wickets. An emphatic win!