England Stays In Front After Rain Spoils Second ODI

The second of five One-Day Internationals between England and Windies was called off after just 14 deliveries of action because of persistent rain at Trent Bridge on Thursday (September 21).

The no-result left the series scoreline 1-0 in England’s favour, after the home side won the first game, played at Old Trafford, by seven wickets with Jonny Bairstow scoring his maiden ODI century.

Only 11 minutes of play was possible on the day before rain arrived and Rob Bailey and Rod Tucker, the umpires, took the players off the field with England 21 without loss in 2.2 overs after being sent in to bat by Jason Holder, the Windies captain.

Jonny Bairstow was on nine with Alex Hales on 10 when the players went off.

As it transpired, they never came back on with the rain never letting up for long enough. Several hours later, shortly before 4.15pm local time (1515 GMT), the match was called off.

Earlier, the Windies went into the match without Chris Gayle on his 38th birthday. The big-hitting opening batsman had suffered a hamstring strain while warming up shortly before the toss, and was ruled out as a result at the last minute.

Kyle Hope replaced Gayle in Windies’ XI, with Gayle set to undergo precautionary scans.

The defeat in the first ODI had put Windies out of the reckoning for a direct berth in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, which will also take place in the United Kingdom.

The West Indies needed to win the series 5-0 or 4-0 with a no-result to overtake Sri Lanka before the September 30 cut-off date, and must now play the qualifiers next year to try and still make it to the marquee event.

Courtesy : .icc-cricket