England make slow start

12 April 2012

Fidel Edwards struck an early blow for the West Indies by removing Alastair Cook as England made a slow start to the opening NatWest Series one-day international at Lord's.

Edwards came on as first change for Daren Powell and his third delivery accounted for Cook (29) who miscued to Dwayne Bravo at short fine leg with 47 on the board in the 14th over.

West Indies skipper Chris Gayle won the toss and put England into bat on an overcast morning which had been punctuated by outbreaks of rain although play was able to get underway on time.

Ravi Rampaul and Powell shared the new ball and they immediately both settled into a rhythm against England openers Cook and Matt Prior. They bowled straight on a pitch offering some movement and gave neither Cook or Prior any width to cut as they played and missed on several occasions.

Powell consistently bowled at around 90 miles per hour and looked a threat in contrast to his performances in the recent Test series. A single to mid on from Prior off Rampaul ended a sequence of 15 deliveries without a run.

Cook finally produced the first boundary of the innings in the eighth over when he lofted Powell over backward point. But he was fortunate when on 11 to miscue an attempted pull at Rampaul which flew just over the head of Marlon Samuels mid-wicket.

Cook also cut Powell to the ropes but the first 10 overs only produced 26 runs. Prior had to wait until his 28th ball to find the boundary for the first time with a cover drive at Rampaul's expense.

Gayle opted to enforce a second powerplay but the scoring rate slowly started to climb before Edwards made the breakthrough by dismissing Cook after Powell had bowled six overs for 23 runs.

Dwayne Smith came on for Rampaul, who bowled seven overs for 22 runs, and new batsman Ian Bell greeted him with fours through mid-wicket and the covers as England reached 57 for one off 15 overs.

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