England captain Brook off to winning start with West Indies thrashing

Japan Today

2 days ago

England's Harry Brook celebrates with Ben Duckett after catching West Indies' Gudakesh Motie (unseen) during the 1st ODI at Edgbaston
cricket
Harry Brook made a winning start as England's permanent white-ball captain as the hosts hammered the West Indies by 238 runs in the first one-day international at Edgbaston on Thursday.
Victory ended England's seven-match ODI losing streak and put them 1-0 up with two to play in the series.
England's success was built on a commanding 400-8 -- the highest team total in the 4,880-match history of men's ODI cricket without an individual hundred -- after Jacob Bethell (82), Ben Duckett (60), Brook (58) and Joe Root (57) all made fifties.
West Indies then collapsed to 79-5 and were eventually dismissed for 162 as their bid to become only the second side to score above 400 to win an ODI ended with more than 23 overs remaining.
Last man Jayden Seales top-scored for the West Indies with an unbeaten 29 -- one of just three contributions of more than 20 in the innings.
This was England's second-largest ODI win in terms of runs, behind a 242-run rout of Australia at Nottingham in 2018.
For West Indies, their colossal margin of defeat was surpassed only by a 257-run loss to South Africa during a 2015 World Cup pool match in Sydney.
Saqib Mahmood took a trio of top-order wickets in his 3-32 on Thursday, with England's impressive fielding exemplified by the one-handed boundary catch Brydon Carse held off his fellow fast bowler to remove West Indies captain Shai Hope for 25.
As Clive Lloyd, the West Indies' skipper when they won the first two World Cups in 1975 and 1979, looked on, England veteran Adil Rashid marked his 150th ODI with two wickets, the leg-spinner ending the match when he bowled tailender Alzarri Joseph.
"That was a pretty phenomenal performance from the boys," Brook told the BBC.
Unsurprisingly, the new skipper was not too concerned by his team's lack of an individual century, with Brook adding: "We got 400 runs!...Four of us got 50-plus scores. If one of us kicks on, that's a complete performance."
Brook also hailed Mahmood by saying: "Saqib bowled beautifully in the power play."
Hope, meanwhile, said: "We didn't make the early inroads we were after. If you don't you will always find yourself playing catch up. That is what happened."
England -- sent in to bat by Hope -- had looked as if they might fall short of a truly imposing total after several batsmen got out when well set.
But Barbados-born left-hander Bethell, back from the Indian Premier League and on his Warwickshire home ground, continued to punish a wayward West Indies attack in which fast-bowler Seales took four wickets but also conceded 84 runs in nine overs.
Bethell and Will Jacks (39) put on exactly 100 runs in seven overs late on to take England from 287-5 to 387-6.
The 21-year-old Bethell, still without a hundred in any form of senior cricket, fell off the first ball of the last over when he edged Seales to wicketkeeper Hope to end a 53-ball innings that included eight fours and five sixes.
"It's pretty special to play here (at Edgbaston) for the first time for England and to top it off with a win and put in a good performance is special," said Bethell, the player-of-the-match. "Today was an easy situation to walk into. We were well on top when I came out to bat."
Earlier the 26-year-old Brook, appointed full-time skipper after Jos Buttler stood down as captain in February following a woeful Champions Trophy in Pakistan where England lost all three of their matches, struck all-rounder Justin Greaves for two superb sixes in three balls -- a lofted off-drive followed by an audacious sweep over his shoulder.
Bethell, in at 221-4 and with 19 overs left, ensured there was no respite by clubbing both Matthew Forde and Joseph for six before lofting Seales over long-off.
The series continues at Cardiff's Sophia Gardens on Sunday before finishing at The Oval on Tuesday.
© 2025 AFP