Rain Denies England And India In ODI Opener

Rain Denies England And India In ODI Opener

Rain played spoilsport at the Durham Emirates International Cricket Ground, where England and India met in the first ODI

©REUTERS/Philip Brown (BRITAIN - Tags: SPORT CRICKET ENVIRONMENT) Picture Supplied by Action Images

India 274-7 (P Patel 95) v England 27-2 - no result
First One-Day International, Chester-le-Street
Scorecard

The opening One-Day International between England and India in Chester-le-Street was abandoned as a no result due to rain.

India posted 274 for seven and then had England in some trouble at 27 for two before the rain arrived in the eighth over of England's reply and stopped any further play.

Plans were afoot to restart with England being set a revised target but no sooner had the calculations been made then the rain set in once again to thwart both teams.

India will be the happier having batted well after being inserted by Alastair Cook, Parthiv Patel and Virat Kohli both scoring fluent half-centuries.

Patel opened alongside Ajinkya Rahane (40) in the absence of Sachin Tendulkar and made 95 in 107 balls with 12 fours, mainly on the leg side as he took on England's bowlers, interspersed with some crisp straight drives.

Kohli made 55 in 73 balls but his dismissal, bowled by Samit Patel, stalled India somewhat as they looked to kick on in the closing stages although their momentum was at least partially restored by Suresh Raina's stroke-filled 38 and Mahendra Singh Dhoni's workmanlike 33.

Tim Bresnan and Stuart Broad both grabbed a brace of wickets for England while Praveen Kumar took the only two England wickets to fall as he removed openers Cook and Craig Kieswetter for four and six respectively.

Cook was bowled, playing on as he tried to cut a ball too close to his body before Kieswetter was trapped in front, playing all round a straight delivery.

Jonathan Trott stroked three boundaries of the highest order - two precisely guided through the off side - to be unbeaten on 14 and Ian Bell was on two when the game was stopped.

The second game of the five-match series is at The Rose Bowl on 6th September.

© Cricket World 2011