WI's direct WC qualification hopes crushed by Bairstow ton

Tue, Sep 19, '17

A maiden ODI hundred from Jonny Bairstow eased England to a comfortable seven wicket win over Windies in the first match of the series at Old Trafford on Tuesday (September 19). Bairstow, opening the batting for England for just the second time in ODI cricket, scored eleven boundaries in his 100 not out off 97 balls and saw his side home with eleven overs to spare.
Windies are ranked the ninth best ODI team in the world and played like it. Aside from the first five overs of their innings when Chris Gayle set about England's bowlers, the tourists hardly threw any punches. Their score of 204 for 9 from 42 overs was perhaps fifty below par and their bowling was insipid. The defeat means Windies cannot automatically qualify for the 2019 World Cup and will have to go through a qualifying tournament next year.
England will be happy with an efficient performance with both bat and ball. Bairstow, who kept his place at the top of the order in place of Jason Roy, played fluently and unfussily. He has now scored a hundred and three half-centuries in his last six ODI innings and after a frustrating run of being in and out of the side since his debut in 2011, will now surely be in England's ODI team for a while.

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