Cant keep going...: Alastair Cook lashes out at England after 1st ODI ...
Jos Buttler-led England lost the first ODI, of the three-match series, to hosts West Indies by four wickets at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua on Sunday (Dec 3). Opting to bat first, England rode on Harry Brook's 71 and valuable knocks from Phil Salt (45), Zak Crawley (48), Sam Curran (38) and Brydon Carse (31) to post a challenging 325 all-out in 50 overs. In reply, WI were 213 for 5 -- needing another 113 off 68 balls -- before captain Shai Hope (109 not out) and Romario Shepherd (49 not out) took them after with opener Alick Athanaze also scoring a 65-ball 66.
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Former England captain Alastair Cook has lashed out at Jos Buttler-led English camp after they conceded a game they should have won. Speaking on TNT Sports, Cook said, "I expect England to get better but you can't just keep going into series without match practice. I know the schedule is really hard and other things but something has to give to give the players a better chance to perform straight away."
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Cook further added that he felt as if the England players were not in touch with the ODI format. “No warm-up games, it doesn’t matter how many scenarios you do, a few of the lads were out in Abu Dhabi, they've had some scenario practice but under pressure today, they looked rusty," Cook stated.
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He added, "They were poor with the new ball new ball. In particular Sam Curran (ending with match figures of 9.5-0-98-0), he's normally that banker, the guy under pressure, certainly in T20 cricket he's been so good at the death but he was missing his mark by a long way."
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England came into this game after a disastrous run in the ODI World Cup 2023 edition in India. Entering the ten-team tournament as the favourites and defending champions, the 2019 winners fell flat soon and ended at the seventh spot in the overall standings.
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The second and penultimate ODI will take place at the same venue on Dec 6 (Wednesday).
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