dipping into the toes, clipped to the midwicket fence!
West Indies vs England, 1st ODI at Bridgetown, ENG in WI, Feb 20 2019 - Ball by Ball Commentary
7.31pm Right, that'll do for tonight. Remarkable scenes in Bridgetown, as England launch their World Cup year with intent. Goodnight!
Roy has reappeared: "A big total, quite daunting at the start. I still have a deficit of 20 [after dropping Gayle] so have some making up to do. We rotated the strike extremely well, and as a team we keep striving for better and better. Will keep our feet on the floor and keep working for Friday."
Jason Roy is the Man of the Match: Morgan picks up the award on his behalf, and here's Morgan for a chat: "The calm nature with which we came back with the ball [was pleasing]. We went about the chase well, with a short side and a howling wind. Felt like a 330-chase, not a 360. For Jason to play such a commanding role set us up beautifully. When he and Root bat together they complement each other. They had a fantastic day today, we're off to a winning start and we're delighted."
"We didn't have a great day in the field and we'll like to improve that going forward. I'd like to think we are improving constantly as we go along, which is a good place to be going into the World Cup."
7.22pm Time for some presentations. Here's Jason Holder: "At the halfway stage we felt we were in the game, but didn't bowl as well as we'd have liked and didn't help ourselves in the field."
"Credit to Chris, he's been a stalwart for us. But we need to pull our socks up. Our energy and body language wasn't up to scratch, and the bowlers need to create more opportunities.
7.20pm Annan Boodram: "Had those catches been taken England would have lost this game." Does that include Roy's off Gayle? Oddly, it might not ...
7.16pm Deepak Samson: "6s and 4s may win you fame...but 1s and 2s win the game !!!" I like what you did there...
Ghaffar.DawnNew: "4:05am in Pakistan..following this Classic on Cricinfo. Lovely life Cricket Life. Also not bad West Indies. They are on track" That's some hard-core commitment to run-chasing!
7.08pm England have cruised to their highest ODI run-chase, with eight deliveries to spare, and in their first ODI of a World Cup year, well, that is quite some statement of intent from the World No.1s and tournament favourites.
Jason Roy set the platform with a blistering 65-ball century, before Root and Eoin Morgan dived into the meat of the chase. It takes quite something to steal the thunder from a Chris Gayle masterpiece, but ultimately, the accumulation of a world-record 23 sixes couldn't atone for West Indies' lack of intent between the wickets. England find the boundaries and sprint the singles at will, and that made all the difference.
John: "Buttler the hero with a faultless innings at a 400 SR. Breathtaking stuff." Well quite, scene-stealing stuff
Sarun: "Root does he same role in ODI for England similar to what Pujara does for India in tests. Let all the swashbucklers play around him. His position is never in doubt and never should be. "
Out comes Buttler with a fairly routine requirement
Root shakes his head as he departs, but that was a clinical performance from one of England's outstanding cricketers. He's broken the back of an extraordinarily steep chase
waist-high full toss, and slapped to deep midwicket! That could be curtains for Root, but it could be a no-ball on height ... it's a very close call ... hip height, but dipping ... not sufficient evidence to call it, so Root is on his way!
sliding past the pads ... scores level
cracked on the up through third man, and Root has his hundred! His 14th in ODI cricket, and it's signed and sealed one of the most impressive run-chases yet from a fine England team. Now to complete the formalities...
Tony: "Is wondering the irony if Stokes scores the winning runs and leaving Root stranded on 98 after that declaration the other week" ... 48 not out and 98 not out are different beasts, but yes, cruelty is in the offing...
nurdles the single. Over to you, Joe ...
pounded on the up to deep midwicket, Stokes takes the strike again!
too much width once more, targetting the tramlines with little impact
Neil Adam: "Root, the Master of "if it's not there to HIT, any single will do"" Ain't that the truth. And a run-a-ball century looks like being the upshot...
banged in short, swished to backward square
filthy wide full toss, slashed on the bounce to third man
Sahil: "If only WI had Bumrah to bowl here" That would be handy ...
clipped off the toes, out to backward square. Root content to pick off another single
thumped on the up to cover ... Root regains the strike at last
wrong side of the tramlines this time ... Stokes swishes in vain
ideal line in the circumstances, very wide but not wide enough to be called a wide. Stokes flings the bat flat-footedly and misses
too much room outside off ... Root's window of opportunity shrinks by another run ...
Doosra: "Apologies for this random cricket comment but did everyone marvel earlier at the incredible turnaround by Oman versus Scotland? Astonishing effort....." Random cricket?! Outrageous! But yes, a special effort after being bowled out for 24...
tucked off the hip to the leg side. Stokes steals the strike again! It probably won't matter to Root, but ...
that's better from Stokes! In the slot for a full-faced drive, through the covers
attempted pull by Stokes, but can't make proper contact. He's not quite found his range today ...
on the up, pushed to cover
driven into the off side
well, that was random. An inelegant chip into the leg side, as Stokes was bamboozled by some barely perceptible lift off the deck. Landed safe though, so on we go