England national cricket team captain Harry Brook reflects on his team’s performance after the first ODI of the three-match series against the India national cricket team at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham on Tuesday, July 14. Like India defeated England by 6 wickets in the first match.
Speaking after England’s defeat, Harry Brook said the team failed to execute their plans in the first ODI at Edgbaston, Birmingham. He praised the collective effort of the players and expressed confidence that England will bounce back in the second match of the series.
England’s batting collapsed
England captain Harry Brook won the toss and decided to bat first. The Three Lions had announced their squad a day before match day, and India played with a choice of three pacers and two spinners as Jasprit Bumrah returned to the 50-over format after a gap of 968 days.
After electing to bat first, England had a steady start with Ben Duckett scoring most of the runs and Jacob Bethell struggling to score. Gurnoor Brar got Bethel’s first wicket as the southpaw was dismissed for 14 in the same over followed by Duckett for 43.
After this, England’s middle order collapsed and they lost a total of 5 wickets in a span of 19 runs. They were struggling at one point with the score at 106/6, and from there a solid 121-run partnership from Liam Dawson and Joe Root got them back on track with scores of 68 and 76* respectively as the home team read 258/10.
Akshar Patel and Shubman Gill stood for India
Chasing the target, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill made a steady start, but after getting set, Rohit played a dashing stroke and returned to the pavilion after scoring 11 runs; Virat Kohli also remained at the crease for some time, Jofra Archer dismissed him for 5 runs.
Later, Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer put on a 101-run partnership before the former retired hurt, having caught his hamstring on 80. Then Iyer was also out on 35 runs on a direct hit by Harry Brook. KL Rahul stayed for a short time at just one run.
Axar Patel along with Washington Sundar took a big step forward for the team as the former brought up his half-century in 39 balls; He went ahead and remained unbeaten on 57, while Washington remained unbeaten on 52, as the two all-rounders finished the game with a 102-run partnership as they went 1–0 up in the series.
“We will come back stronger”- Harry Brook after England’s poor performance in the first ODI
Harry Brook said that the turning point of the match was losing five wickets for 20 runs and they did not have a good start. He credited Joe Root and Liam Dawson for building a good partnership which helped them score well.
Harry Brook said, “Not ideal. We lost 5 wickets for 20 runs in the middle overs. We reached a good score in the end, it was a great effort from the players. Losing 5 wickets for 20 runs is never ideal. The partnership between Root and Dawson was very good. We thought the pitch changed. It slowed down and allowed them to get on. We will get to Cardiff and take the decision there. We will come back stronger.”