Bairstow's first ODI century fires England to easy triumph

Jonny Bairstow celebrates his century against West Indies at the Emirates Old Trafford.

This first match of five was notable for an unexpected two-hour delay at Old Trafford, and consequent reduction to 42 overs per side because of a wet outfield which declined to dry out in time for the scheduled start time of 12:30pm.

When play did begin, Windies made a flying start from the returning Chris Gayle but faltered to fine bowling from Adil Rashid and Ben Stokes (three for 43).

Bairstow (100no) then ensured a routine win with more than 11 overs to spare in pursuit of just 204 for nine, as England consigned their opponents to the prospect of a 2019 World Cup qualifying tournament early next year.

Gayle launched a rush of early sixes in an opening stand of 45, after the Windies won the toss on a sunny afternoon. But, once he went in the ninth over, wickets kept falling in pairs to continually check momentum on a pitch of decent pace, and a late hand from Jason Holder could not rescue a par total.

Bairstow then took his opportunity – in captain Eoin Morgan’s words the previous day – to “make the opening position his own” after being retained in place of Jason Roy.

England lost Alex Hales to an aerial cut at Jerome Taylor in the fifth over, but Bairstow made no mistake as he and Joe Root (54) put together an all-Yorkshire stand of 125 for the second wicket which ended only when the latter chopped on to Kesrick Williams. Morgan then went caught-behind to Williams, but England remained well ahead of the game.

After two unscripted inspections, the earliest skirmish was Gayle’s survival when he was dropped on nought third ball from an edge off Chris Woakes to Root at second slip. He quickly tried to make the hosts pay, as Woakes’ second over cost 17 runs. England got a badly-needed breakthrough in unlikely circumstances, when Morgan chanced an early bowl for Moeen Ali and Evin Lewis cracked a long-hop straight to square-leg where Hales clung on to a very sharp chance.

Root then grasped his shot at redemption with an outstanding catch, running back from the off-side ring and diving to hold on over his head  when Gayle aimed big at Woakes again but skewed a slower ball.

Marlon Samuels and Shai Hope then combined to guide  Windies into three figures at the halfway stage. But Liam Plunkett and Stokes, operating at a full length and mixing his pace up expertly, kept the brakes on.

England were rewarded when Hope pulled at Stokes, only to find the clutches of Bairstow at deep square-leg.

Stokes doubled up in his next over, with a wicket he wanted more than most – that of Samuels, for 17 from 46 balls, when DRS proved a delivery initially judged wide had, in fact, run over the face of the bat on the way through to Jos Buttler.

Batsmen kept having to start again in tandem, and their replacements could never break the shackles as just 55 runs came for five wickets in the last 10 overs, including 15 off Stokes in the 42nd. It was still nowhere near enough, and, from 1-0 down, Windies already know they cannot raise their world ranking sufficiently to avoid an early start to their World Cup odyssey.