England 288-6 (Ian Bell 126, Jonathan Trott 42, Marlon Samuels 2-43) beat West Indies 172 all out (Dwayne Smith 56, Marlon Samuels 30, Tim Bresnan 4-34).
Ian Bell hammered a ton after nearly five years and led England to a comfortable victory in the first ODI vs. West Indies at Southampton.
England thrashed 288 runs for the loss of six wickets in the allocated 50 overs and West Indies were bowled out for 172 runs with 16.2 overs to spare.
Ian Bell (England) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his brilliant knock of 126 runs while opening the innings. That was the second century for Bell in his ODI career and co-incidentally, he scored his first ton by smashing 126 runs at the same venue vs. India on August 21, 2007.
The first One Day International of the three match series was played on Saturday, June 16, 2012, at The Rose Bowl, Southampton.
Earlier, Darren Sammy, the captain of West Indies, won the toss and offered the batting to England. The visitors got the instant reward by getting the first wicket of the England skipper on the third ball of the innings without any run on board. Jonathan Trott joined in with the opener Ian Bell and took the score to 16 after the end of the fifth over. Bell opened up in the sixth over and dispatched 18 runs off Andre Russell with I six and 3 fours. The consolidation process was carried on by both batsmen and the first hundred of the innings was completed in the 19th over.
Trott became the next victim after contributing 108 runs for the second wicket at his individual score of 42 runs. Ian Bell took over as a senior partner with a little assistance from the other end and achieved his century on the third ball of the 33rd over with two runs. A couple of wickets fell ahead of Bell and he was the fifth batsman who went back to the pavilion after hammering 126 runs off 117 balls with 1 six and 12 fours.
The fifth wicket fell at 216 runs in 39.2 overs as Craig Kieswetter and a couple of incoming batsmen enhanced the scoring rate in the late overs of the innings. Kieswetter and Stuart Broad remained unbeaten on 38 and 22 runs respectively as England amassed 288 runs with four wickets in hand at the end of the 50th over.
Marlon Samuels was the highest wicket taker with two as Ravi Rampaul, Sunil Narine and Dwayne Bravo claimed one wicket each.
West Indies lost their first wicket for 25 runs in 4.5 overs as Dwayne Smith and Denesh Ramdin put their heads down and the first scored 14 runs in the sixth over off Steven Finn. Smith was the most aggressive of the two and attained his fifty on the fourth ball of the 13th over with a grand six over square leg. They took the score to 95 when Smith was gone after scoring 56 runs off 44 balls with 2 sixes and 6 fours.
Marlon Samuels came in next as Ramdin lost his wicket for 22 after the addition of seven runs in the total. That was the beginning of the disaster for the Windies as the English bowlers took over and bowled excellently after that. The Caribbeans batsmen found it hard to score the runs whereas the wickets kept on sliding at the regular intervals. Samuels managed 30 runs on even balls with 3 fours as the whole team surrendered for 172 runs in 33.4 overs.
Tim Bresnan proved his worth by grabbing four wickets, James Anderson and Graeme Swann held two wickets each whereas Steven Finn and Stuart Broad shared one wicket each.
England won the first ODI with a huge margin of 114 runs and is leading the three match series 1-0.
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