BASSETERRE, St. Kitts-THE English Cricket Team looked impressive in their opening session of the Digicel Home Series 2009 yesterday (Jan. 25), racking up a massive 424 for 8 against host squad St. Kitts-Nevis Invitational XI.
The day started on high note for St. Kitts-Nevis as fast bowler Calvin Williams’ second toss of the day was lobbed up by recently appointed captain Andrew Strauss and found a comfortable home in the hands of third slip Junie Mitchum for an early wicket.
Williams continued to deliver very tight bowling to the slow starting English side in the early overs, but it was not long before a pair of fours through the open gaps by Alistair Cook helped the team relax and move toward a more aggressive batting approach.
St. Kitts-Nevis’ off-spinner Terrance Ward was the first bowler to square off against former captain Kevin Pietersen, and soon found that the demotion had not harmed his renowned batting skills in the least.
Pieterson seemed to effortlessly slog 13 fours and 3 sixes off Ward and company for much of the middle order before eventually reaching 103 and being stumped on a wide ball by Akito Willet.
The punishment did not stop there for St. Kitts-Nevis, however, as Owais Shah, whose fourth wicket partnership with Pietersen was worth 158, continued his run in the crease and finished the day with 125 not out.
Wickets five, six and seven fell in rather rapid comparison to the bruising Pietersen stand as Andrew Flintoff, Matt Prior and Adil Rashid were all caught out for a total of 32 runs.
Willet proved to be St. Kitts-Nevis’ go-to bowler for the day, delivering 24 overs for 118. He was ably assisted by Steve Liburd, who bowled 14overs and gave up just 54 runs. Elsroy Powell of Nevis was equally impressive allowing only 39 runs off his 14 overs.
Perhaps England’s greatest loss for the day was the unforeseen injury of right-handed batsman Andrew Flintoff, who complained about pain in his left side and has decided to sit out the entire first Test against the West Indies in Jamaica on February 4.
International cricket action will continue today (Jan. 26) at Warner Park as the St. Kitts-Nevis Invitational XI take to the field at 10 a.m. for their first innings at bat.
England will play their second warm up bout of the 2009 Home Series against the West Indies ‘A’ Squad on January 29 at Warner Park.
