Fans around the world were expecting a thrilling contest between the two powerhouses of batting. However, the West Indies were disappointing again, and England completely dominated the match from the very first over.
After winning the toss in the overcast condition, England decided to bowl first.
West Indies lost opener Lewis in the 3rd over of the match. It was a jaffa of delivery from Chris Woakes. Chris Gayle didn’t look in great touch during his knock of 36; he even got a lifeline when was dropped on third man boundary. No West Indian batsman other than Pooran batted sensibly for his 63. Andre Russell was disappointing again as he was hitting everything then he needed to bat and support Pooran at the other end. Russell is still in IPL mode, and this is hampering West Indies chances big time.
West Indies bowled out for 212 runs and could not even play full quota of 50 overs. It seems like West Indies players know just one way of playing, i.e., T20 style. This kind of approach will help only in chasing if the target is not very significant.
The English pace attack bowled exceptionally well in conditions that were conducive for bowlers. Wood and Jofra picked three wickets each. The surprising element was Joe Root’ bowling, which took two crucial wickets of Holder and Hetmyer.
West Indies Innings (Fall of Wickets)
The foundations of England's victory were laid by 3️⃣ wickets to each of @mawood33 and @JofraArcher while @root66 chipped in with an unlikely pair!
Watch the Windies' wickets fall here ?#WeAreEngland #CWC19 pic.twitter.com/0oouKzAypX
— ICC (@ICC) June 14, 2019
England had some problems early in their innings. As per the rules, the English opener Jason Roy could not bat before number 7 as he didn’t field due to injury in most of the West Indian innings.
England started well as their openers started hitting boundaries from the start of their innings. Bairstow’s new opening partner, Joe Root looked very confident, and it didn’t feel like he was opening for the first time. The pair added 95 runs before Bairstow holds out at 3rd man boundary. The wicket didn’t matter much as the score was too low to chase. Surprisingly England sent Chris Woakes at number three despite having Buttler and Stokes in the middle order. However, Woakes batted like a top order batsman and added a hundred runs partnership for the second wicket. Root scored his second hundred of this world cup and became only the second player after Kevin Pietersen to score two in the same world cup for England.
England Innings (The Run Chase)
The West Indies were looking for wickets, but only found a pair as England chased their total with ease.
Watch them here ⤵#MenInMaroon #CWC19 pic.twitter.com/cFR77JSush
— ICC (@ICC) June 14, 2019
STATS
- Chris Gayle becomes the leading run-scorer in One-Day Internationals between two sides. Gayle has scored 1632 runs against England in 36 ODIs. The second highest scorer is Sir Viv Richards who has 1619 runs in 36 ODIs.
- Mark Wood has now 50 wickets in One Day International.
- Joe Root became only the second English batsman to score two hundred in the same World Cup. Kevin Pietersen was the first who scored two hundred in 2007 edition.
- This was Joe Root’s third Cricket World Cup century – more than any other England batsman.
