Sam Curran bats wearing sunglasses during West Indies vs England 1st ODI

Sam-Curran. (Photo Source: X/Twitter)

West Indies registered a magnificent win over England by four wickets in the first ODI of the three-match series on Sunday, December 03 in Antigua. Riding on a scintillating hundred from Shai Hope, West Indies chased down the massive target of 326 with seven balls to spare and took a 1-0 lead in the series.

Apart from the breathtaking cricketing action witnessed on the pitch in the first ODI, England all-rounder Sam Curran also grabbed attention for batting with his sunglasses on. The southpaw batted through his entire innings with sunglasses under the scorching heat in the Caribbean. Curran walked in to bat in the 39th over with England on 232/6 and played a brilliant innings of 38 (26) smashing three fours and two sixes.

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Courtesy of Curran’s innings, England posted a good score of 325 all out in their allotted 50 overs. However, the all-rounder didn’t have a memorable outing with the ball during the match leaking 98 runs in 9.5 overs at an economy of 10. Notably, it was also the most expensive figures by an England bowler in ODIs surpassing Steve Harmison’s 0/97 in ten overs vs Sri Lanka in July 2006.

Coming back to the match, chasing a massive target of 326 West Indies got off to a great start by their openers Alick Athanaze (66 off 65) and Brandon King (35 off 44) who added 104 runs for the first wicket off 106 balls. After a good opening stand, West Indies lost three wickets quickly and were 144/3 after 29.1 overs.

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Shai Hope and Romario Shepherd got involved in crucial partnership

Seeing the match getting out of grasp, West Indies skipper Shai Hope scored a sublime hundred and played an innings of 109* off 83 balls smashing four fours and seven sixes. He got good support from Romario Shepherd (49 off 28) as the duo got involved in an 89-run stand off 51 balls which brought West Indies on the brink of victory.

Hope guided his team home in the penultimate over and deservedly won the Player of the Match award. The two teams will next take on each other in the second ODI on Wednesday, December 06 at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua.