England’s solely important change within the India sequence was a brand new opening mixture of Ben Duckett and Jacob Bethell, and it bore fruit at Lord’s.
The left-handed duo turned England’s sixth opening pair for the reason that 2023 World Cup, with Phil Salt, Jamie Smith and Zak Crawley at the moment out of competition and Will Jacks and Rehan Ahmed issues for the center order after spells on the prime.
They’d an honest begin within the first ODI at Edgbaston, placing on 63, however Duckett was dismissed first ball within the second fixture at Cardiff, with Bethell following shortly afterwards as England discovered themselves 8-2.
In London, nonetheless, the pair flogged a drained India assault, profiting from benign batting situations to placed on the best ODI opening stand at Lord’s, with Duckett urgent on for his fourth century within the format.
Bethell, who has not beforehand batted increased than 4 for England in white-ball cricket, began his ODI opening profession with innings of 14 and 4, however reduce a composed determine on the House of Cricket.
He performed in a usually constructive trend, hanging at 97.85 as he plundered 11 fours and two sixes earlier than falling for 91, simply in need of a second ODI ton.
The 22-year-old’s promotion up the order means England can carry an additional bowler, with the hosts fielding three seamers and spinner Adil Rashid alongside all-rounders Sam Curran and Will Jacks within the latter two matches of this sequence.
