Captain Alastair Cook led from the front as England took a 1-0 lead in the one-day series with a seven wicket win over India at the Rose Bowl on Tuesday.
Captain Alastair Cook led from the front as England took a 1-0 lead in the one-day series with a seven wicket win over India at the Rose Bowl. © AFP |
The skipper is not in England's Twenty20 team and there were
suggestions that he could leave himself out when the match was
truncated.
But he made nonsense of those opinions as he and Essex clubmate Ravi
Bopara (24) milked the Indian bowling attack, missing some of its bigger
names, after Cook and Kieswetter had got England off to a rapid start.
Cook, not considered a one-day player until he was made captain at
the start of the season, got to his seventh one-day international 50 in
37 balls, controlled the run chase and even unveiled a reverse sweep.
With eight overs left the run rate was down to a run a ball and with wickets in hand England cruised home.
Kieswetter got the England reply off to a flyer making 46 from 25
balls with three sixes, including two successive sixes from the spin of
Ravichandran Ashwin.
Kieswetter has attracted some criticism for making good starts and
not finishing the job off and was guilty of that again as he was trapped
leg before in the seventh over.
Bell came in and immediately hit two fours off the back foot to help
England race past the 100 mark in the tenth over and break the back of
their target before he holed out at extra cover for 25.
India's total was built on 54 from Ajinka Rahane - in just his second
one-day international - and a whirlwind 40 from Suresh Raina, made from
19 balls.
With the match shortened Raina was in Twenty20 mode as he hit three
fours and three sixes and accelerated the Indian run rate towards the
end of the innings before he was well caught by Ben Stokes in the final
over.
Tim Bresnan took two of his three wickets in that last over but the
pick of the England bowlers was Graeme Swann who finished with 3-33 from
five overs and gave his captain some control when India looked like
getting away in the middle overs.
Rahul Dravid chipped in with 32 and opener Parthiv Patel made 28 of
the first 30 runs before he was caught behind off James Anderson.
The third international in the five-match series takes place at the Oval in London on Friday.






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