Preview: 2nd ODI, Bristol, and The Perfect Fixture

The second ODI between India and England starts this afternoon. On paper England ought to walk it. India have been struck by flu and England will be full of confidence from the first game. However, both teams are so unpredictable, equally capable of collapsing in a heap or fighting to the last ball.

Meanwhile, Middlesex and Gloucestershire are in the third day of their match at Lord’s, having managed only 8.2 overs in the last two days. I’m looking forward to turning up tomorrow. Is there anything that more embodies the spirit of cricket than the final day of a Division 2 County Championship match with absolutely no prospect of any result but a draw? Perfect.

England vs India, First ODI, Rose Bowl

The first one-day match of the England-India series saw one of the least expected results – not just an England victory, but an efficient, practically chanceless win.

Alastair Cook and Ian Bell both hit maiden centuries, Bell ending on 126 not out, and Jimmy Anderson bowled magnificently to take 4-23. India were comprehensively outplayed by England with both bat and ball, but another vital contribution to England’s victory was their superiority in what we might call the Minor Arts of cricket, namely fielding and running between the wickets.

I’m not going to give a blow-by-blow account of the match, as I don’t have much time and there are dozens out there on the internets already. I will instead say ‘Nice one, fellas’ to the England team and highlight some areas where they could improve to help maintain this standard for the rest of the series:

1. Powerplays. Matt Prior is still struggling to be the aggressive opener that England needs. I think he would be better placed lower in the batting order and could well be able to score quickly in the last 5 or 10 overs of an innings.

2. Collingwood bowled 5 rather expensive overs yesterday. In the scheme of the game it didn’t matter at all, but why did he bowl so much when Broad and Flintoff both had overs remaining and Bopara hadn’t bowled at all?

That’s the closest I can get to criticism for the time being.

Stuart Broad’s bowling was very encouraging, he could have picked up a couple of wickets easily, and Anderson seems to be maturing into a first class international bowler. Together the two of them could form a world-beating partnership, let’s hope they can keep up the good work. I would love to see them open the bowling in a Test.

Ian Bell also showed his class again. He has had good and bad spells for the last two years, but today we caught a glimpse of the kind of player he could be – a stylish batsmen who, once set, seems to score at will. More please, Belly.