Brook Era Begins,England Thrash West Indies

2025.05.30

As England crushed the West Indies, Brook was one of four batters to reach fifty.

At Edgbaston, England’s most recent white-ball revival under new skipper Harry Brook got off to a spectacular start as they crushed the West Indies by 238 runs.

England amassed 400 for eight in this Metro Bank ODI series opener, despite no one hitting three figures, ten years after they first scored 400 or more in ODIs in Birmingham to spark Eoin Morgan’s comeback of the limited-overs teams.

Brook scored 58 off 45 balls, making him one of four hitters to reach fifty. The other seven all scored at least 37. However, Jacob Bethell stole some of Brook’s thunder by scoring 82 off 53 deliveries.

With their hundreds against Zimbabwe last week, Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley may have placated their detractors, but there will only be more requests for Bethell to rejoin the Test team against India this summer.

In addition to having five sixes and eight fours, this elegant innings was well-paced before the Windies were dismissed for 162 in 26.2 overs, allowing England to end a seven-match losing streak in spectacular fashion.

When the Windies faltered to 102 for eight, Saqib Mahmood and Jamie Overton both took three wickets, setting the stage for a record victory. However, the tail sagged, and England settled for their second-largest ODI victory, which was only surpassed by the 242-run margin by which they defeated Australia in 2018.

Brook finished a historic day with a record-tying five catches. Brook took over an ODI team in turmoil after a terrible Champions Trophy that resulted in Jos Buttler resigning as captain in March.

After losing the toss, England’s new-look opening pair dominated the in-field. Ben Duckett, who was usually strong on the cut and pull in his 60, and Jamie Smith, who was dropped on one, both showed off their range in their 37 before being caught in spectacular catches inside the ring.

While Brook took 13 singles from his opening 19 balls before smashing five fours and three sixes, including a couple of stunning whips over fine-leg, Joe Root struck a normally inconspicuous 57 before nicking off.

Buttler was caught in the deep for 37 in his maiden innings back in the ranks, and a sliding Keacy Carty took good advantage of his uppish cut. With none of the top five continuing after going in, England was left open to a collapse.

Bethell wasn’t very giving in his debut England bat in three months after missing the Champions Trophy due to injury and last week’s Test victory over Zimbabwe because of his Indian Premier League obligations.

Before stepping up the ante with a powerful slog sweep for six off the underutilized Gudakesh Motie—the only boundary the cunning slow left-armer gave up in seven clean overs—he warmed up to his assignment gradually.

Together with Will Jacks, who put up a fast 39, including 22 in an over off the costly Matthew Forde, Bethell burst out with four sixes off the quicks in the penultimate powerplay, forming an explosive 98-run stand in 44 balls.

England reached 400, their sixth in ODIs, with four byes off the penultimate delivery, but Bethell, who needed 18 from the final over for his maiden international century, got a feather to Seales’ broader off-cutter instead.

Captain Shai Hope’s ability to anchor the innings seemed to be the key to the Windies’ hopes of recording their greatest ODI chase, but after he pulled off Mahmood’s bouncer, Brydon Carse made a spectacular catch over his head that was reminiscent of Ben Stokes’ famous leaping grab in England’s 2019 World Cup opener.

Brook dove to grab a brilliant chance off 18-year-old Jewel Andrew, caught Carty and Justin Greaves at mid-off, and Hope’s departure for 25 gave the busy Mahmood his third wicket.

The Windies escaped their most crushing loss when Brook took a couple more before Motie and Seales hit out down the order. However, when Adil Rashid castled Alzarri Joseph, England won by a landslide.

@CharithRajapaksha