England 387 for 3 (Duckett 141, Bethell 91, Root 74*, Buttler 41*) vs India
It was the first century stand between England’s top two since Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow put on 115 against Bangladesh in the 2023 ODI World Cup. And in the hunt for an opening stand to mimic the glory years, Bethell’s 91 in his third go opening the batting, after 14 and 4 in the first two matches of this series, underlined the faith behind his promotion.
It was a good toss for Harry Brook to win, though the fact Shubman Gill would have bowled first proved as peculiar an admission as his decision to opt for four quicks and just Axar Patel as a slow-bowling option. India were undoubtedly held back by the loss of Jasprit Bumrah through a knee injury sustained during the second ODI in Cardiff. But with Washington Sundar also out with a hamstring issue sustained during the same match, the India brains trust decided to bring in Arshdeep Singh and Prince Yadav – along with KL Rahul returning from illness for Shivam Dube – believing spinners would not be effective during the middle overs here at Lord’s.
Perhaps the only thing that did not go England’s way was a hundred for Bethell. But what agony there may have been at missing out – Bethell only has three of them across his professional career – was covered for in stroke-play and the timeliness of the 22-year old’s seventh fifty-plus score.
The left-hander’s grace, when driving down the ground twice among his 11 fours, and even in his two sixes, pulling Prince Yadav over backward square leg and depositing Axar in the second tier of the pavilion, felt like a nod to above. A tribute to Sir Garfield Sobers, who passed on Friday at the age of 89.
Bethell came across Sobers’ radar as a youngster growing up in Barbados. The immediate interest from the legendary allrounder extended to a reference letter that banked Bethell a place at Rugby School – the point when the wheels of a prospective England career began turning.
India have been privy to plenty of those movements, and certainly not restricted to Bethell’s IPL involvement. His recent stint with Royal Challengers Bengaluru made up a chunk of the 19 innings since his last hundred, which was a stunning effort in vain against India in this year’s T20 World Cup.
An innings full of crisp timing and accurate placement came to an end through too much of the former and not enough of the latter. Extra bounce from Prasidh Krishna was helped towards the square leg boundary, Rohit Sharma just needing a couple of paces to collect a comfortable catch.
A platform of 192 with a ball shy of 20 overs remaining was the opportune time to launch. And though Duckett and Root were able to put on 101 for 80 balls, England may wonder if they missed a trick not sending out Brook earlier, or indeed promoting Jos Buttler as they would have done in their 2015-2019 heyday. As it happens, they were going to get some vintage Buttler at the death anyway.
Duckett cracked on, completing his century in a speed-run that saw the second fifty to three figures take just 44 balls compared to 64 for the first.
Sweep-heavy and in full kitchen-sink mode by the end, he carved Arshdeep to the deep point where KL Rahul, having taken a smart catch, could not avoid stepping onto the sponge for Duckett’s only six of the innings. That would be the last of 19 boundaries, dismissed an over later when he flapped a Prince slower bouncer back to the bowler.
Brook came and went for 14, before Buttler finally arrived at the crease. Root by now had reached a sixth successive ODI fifty, and could admire some brutal hitting.
A sequence of three sixes across four deliveries was part of an emphatic exclamation point from Buttler. The middle of them a stunning back-foot slap shot to a Prasidh short ball that landed just shy of the advertising boards at the Pavilion End.
The 49th over was taken for 23, leaving England 371 for 3 before the final six balls. Root then struck Prince for successive fours, and Buttler for one more, to find 16 from the final over.
And with that, a target of 388 laid at India’s door that they will have to go great guns to get. One last hurrah, Rohit?
Vithushan Ehantharajah is an associate editor at Cricinfo
