Raina Century Sets Up Handsome India Win

India 304-6 (Raina 100, Woakes 4-52) beat
England 161 (Jadeja 4-28) by 133 runs (D/L)
Second One-Day International, Cardiff
Scorecard

Suresh Raina stroked an impressive century as India beat England by 133 runs in the second One-Day International in Cardiff and go 1-0 up in their five-match series.

Raina's ton, along with half-centuries from Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni, rescued India from a shaky start in difficult batting conditions and they went on to post 304 for six.

Even with a target reduced to 295 in 47 overs due to rain, England were never seriously in the hunt, Alex Hales marking his debut with a bright 40 before they floundered under the floodlights.

Ravindra Jadeja returned four for 28 as England were bowled out for 161 in 38.1 overs.

The opening game in Bristol was washed out and the third game is at Trent Bridge on Saturday (30th August).

With rain forecast to arrive later in the day, England surprised nobody when they won the toss and chose to bowl first.

And they gained the rewards for a good opening burst from Chris Woakes (4-52) and James Anderson (0-57) when Shikhar Dhawan drove loosely to be caught behind by Jos Buttler for 11 and Virat Kohli (0) charged down the track but found only Alastair Cook at mid-off with his drive.

Sharma, who made 52 in 87 balls and Ajinkya Rahane (41) began the recovery with sensible batting, and were able to profit when Woakes and Anderson were taken off.

Chris Jordan conceded 12 wides and leaked 73 runs in his 10 overs and it was the off-spin of James Tredwell which broke the partnership when Rahane didn't get anything over the line when playing a routine shot and was stumped by the alert Buttler.

That brought Raina to the crease and after surviving a close leg-before shout early in his innings, he proceeded to make the best of things and put India in a dominant position.

The returning Woakes was smashed down the ground for one of three sixes and he also hit 12 fours en route to a fourth ODI century, which came after Sharma had driven Tredwell to Woakes at long-off.

Dhoni helped Raina add 144 for the fifth wicket, which came when Raina was caught by Anderson off Woakes.

Once Dhoni had reached his half-century, scoring 52 in 51 balls, he was bowled by a clever Woakes slower ball but with Jadeja (9 not out) and Ravichandran Ashwin (10 not out) adding some late runs, England were always looking up against it.

Their run chase was delayed by a shower and with three overs taken away they needed 295 to win - a total they never threatened.

Hales looked completely at ease in his new surroundings, scoring 40 in 63 balls including some powerful strokes on both sides of the wicket.

Cook made 19 in 33 balls and it started to go wrong for England when Mohammad Shami trapped the England captain in front and then bowled Ian Bell for one, the Warwickshire man leaving one on to his stumps.

Joe Root was then bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar for four and by now it was already looking as if it would only be a matter of when, and not if India wrapped up victory.

Four balls after the 20th over was completed, meaning a result would be produced, Hales was out, caught by Ashwin off Jadeja. Buttler then chipped Jadeja to Kohli for two and there was no way back from 85 for five.

Eoin Morgan (28), Ben Stokes (23) and Woakes (20) all got in and briefly flickered through the gloom, but Ashwin had the former caught in the deep and Jadeja accounted for the other two.

Jordan's miserable day ended when he was trapped in front by Raina - an easy choice for the man-of-the-match award - and the end came when a flighty 18-run 10th-wicket partnership between Tredwell (10) and Anderson (9 not out) was cut short by Ashwin, who had Tredwell caught by Jadeja as India's premier spinners combined to deadly effect.

Ashwin finished with two for 38, Shami two for 32 and Kumar one for 30.

© Cricket World 2014