CRICKET: 1ST ODI
FREE 4x only plus FREE p&p Flip up £ Express Newspapers Offer FDS9834. reduced to 29-2 after they lost the toss and were put in to bat. Much was made of Morgan’s character when he chose to miss his side’s tour of Bangladesh last October over security fears. Many thought he would lose respect among his players, who all made the trip apart from opener Alex Hales. But Morgan appears to have emerged from that episode stronger than ever, this knock his second century in three one-day innings.
Cautious
The surface at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua offered variable bounce – the Shannon Gabriel deliveries that dismissed Jason Roy and Joe Root early on keeping low. And this was by no means a trademark England innings, the surface dictating that the team who struck an ODI record 444-3 against Pakistan at Trent Bridge needed to be cautious. Yet there was still some eye-catching blows from Morgan and Ben Stokes, who was playing in his first international since landing a £1.7m Indian Premier League windfall. Stokes started off scratchily, needing 26 balls to reach double figures. But the all-rounder smashed the final ball of the 40th over from Jason Mohammed straight back over the spinner’s head for a huge six. That started the tourists’ charge which brought 100 runs in the final 10 overs. By the time Stokes had posted his sixth ODI half-century, he had bludgeoned two more maximums. The Stokes and Morgan partnership was worth 110 before the most costly overseas player in IPL history was caught on 55 attempting to hit Devendra Bishoo into the Caribbean Sea. Morgan brought up his 100 with a nerveless six off Carlos Brathwaite over deep midwicket. It was some way to reach three figures and although he was run out in the final over, his work had already been done.