England Win Rain-Affected Game With Time To Spare

England Win Rain-Affected Game With Time To Spare

Craig Kieswetter got England's run chase off to a flying start.

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England 188-3 (Cook 80no) beat
India 187-8 (Rahane 54, Swann 3-33) by 7 wickets
Second One-Day International, The Rose Bowl
Scorecard

England eased to a comfortable seven-wicket win over India in a rain-affected second One-Day International at The Rose Bowl. 

The match was due to start at 2pm local time but was delayed by five hours thanks to heavy rain, and it was only due to some excellent work from the Hampshire ground-staff that play got underway as early as it did. Alastair Cook won a late toss and inserted India in what was by that stage a 23-over game.

Parthiv Patel got the tourists off to an excellent start with a sprightly 28 from only 18 balls before falling to Jimmy Anderson, but that didn’t bother the Indians one bit as Ajinkya Rahane and Rahul Dravid shared a well-paced second wicket stand of 79, with Rahane continuing his excellent recent form in making 54.

Graeme Swann took three wickets towards the end of the innings, but Suresh Raina hit some crisp shots on his way to a 19-ball 40 as India ended on 187 for eight. Tim Bresnan bounced back from a difficult start at the hands of Patel and Rahane to also return four wickets - at a cost of 43 runs to Swann's 33.

Craig Kieswetter dominated a 67-run opening stand in the England reply as he twice lofted Ravichandran Ashwin for straight sixes before falling for 46 from only 25 balls.

His opening partner Alastair Cook played the anchor role with aplomb and was supported well by Ian Bell (25 from 16) and Ravi Bopara (24 from 20) to end on 80 not out and guide his side to victory with five balls to spare.