The English men’s side could hardly have snapped a break with the past in a more commanding manner, ending a seven-game losing streak and ringing in the new era of captain Harry Brook with a 238-run demolition job.
The West Indies have not only been here before, they were in this situation just one week ago. Ireland embarrassed them by 124 runs in the first of three ODIs and the Windies would go on to put on much more commendable shifts in the second and third games.
It was a sharp and dramatic turnaround in the space of two days and, after their bowlers conceded a total of 50 boundaries on Thursday, they’ll need to do the same in Cardiff to keep the series alive.
Why England can win
There is almost never a game of cricket where every member of a team ought to walk away satisfied with their output of the day, but Thursday’s opening ODI was precisely that for England.
England’s entire top seven batters all scored at least 37 runs each, with only Joe Root failing to crack a strike rate of 115+, whilst the other four combined for nine of England’s ten wickets.
Adil Rashid took a beating, but someone was bound to cop it against a side chasing 400, and one of his iconic googlies ended the last established partnership with the score at only 102. It’ll be interesting to see if they opt for a fourth fast bowler in Cardiff with grey skies possible.
Their opponents are yet to find a formidable opening partnership on this tour of the UK and Ireland, having lost Evin Lewis (36 runs from three innings) to a minor groin injury only for the Justin Greaves experiment to fail yet again. Greaves has a top score of just 12 from six ODI innings as an opener, so England’s opening bowlers have a fantastic opportunity to set the tone early again if Lewis is not fit to return just yet.
Why West Indies can win
It was mentioned earlier that the West Indies very quickly shook off a poor series opening performance in Dublin and turned it around with scores of 352 and then 385, batting first on both occasions.
England’s bowling attack is of course a significant step up from that of Ireland, but it demonstrates their adaptability in unfamiliar conditions. If nothing else, the pitches of Sophia Gardens should at least assist their boundary-heavy approach to batting.
There’s no disputing that much more disciplined fast bowling will be required to stand any chance of turning things around in Cardiff, for despite England’s mammoth score of 400, the dot ball percentage was respectable.
They’ll be hoping that the spinners Motie and Chase can play more than just a holding role and break a partnership or two, something they both failed to do in the opening game.
Venue and conditions
Sophia Gardens has witnessed some notably low ODI scores since the beginning of the 2019 World Cup, with Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Pakistan all bowled out for scores of under 150 in losses of either a nine or a ten wicket margin.
Then there was the most recent fixture in 2023, where England made a much more respectable 291/6 against New Zealand only to lose by a massive eight wickets themselves!
Last year’s T20I against Australia produced two scores in the 190s, whilst four of the five full T20 Blast games had scores of 180+, so let’s hope there are plenty of runs on offer.
There were also varying weather forecasts for the city of Cardiff on Sunday, with some suggesting a small chance of light showers during the afternoon and others confident of no rain at all.
Match stats
• Chasing teams have a 17-8 record in Cardiff ODIs (one tie, three no-results)
• Six of the eight first innings scores of 300+ were defended, whilst two of the 16 under 300 were successfully defended
• Ben Duckett now averages 55 in ODIs against West Indies’ last bowling attack
• Jayden Seales took 3+ wickets in each of his last three ODI bowling innings, having failed to do so in each of the first 16 of his career
• Jacob Bethell averages 54 in all white ball internationals against those same bowlers following his 82 on Thursday