Here’s Tanya Aldred’s report from Amstelveen:
That’s it from us on a day when it was so hot that wherever you looked, you saw a record melting. For the second time in four days, I have a very happy headache. Thanks for your company and correspondence as we’ve tried to capture the first episode in the new season of The Jos Buttler Show. The OBO will be back on Sunday with the second match in this tight, tense little series.
The last word goes to Tom Bowtell, writing just before the Netherlands’ resistance came to an end. “Season’s sweatings, Tim,” he said. “As the rate ticks up to 65 per over, I wonder if there is any way we can work out the highest ever RRR recorded? If Netherlands bat out their 50 it should be over a thousand for the last ball…” Ha. Say what you like about one-sided games, they can be a lot of fun to discuss.
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Morgan: Buttler is playing amazing cricket
And here’s Eoin Morgan, in his wide-brimmed hat. It ha been 11 months since the last ODI, Mark Butcher notes. “Yes, it’s been great to be back amongst the group,” Morgan says. “Having a majority of the senior guys has helped better integration guys that haen’t played much ODI cricket. Great to see Dawid Malan and Phil Salt come in and post two big scores like that, early in their ODI careers.
“And then Jos, to come in and just play in a world of his own like he has for a couple of years. He’s incredible to watch. It’s not something we ever take for granted. It is amazing cricket – he is probably the best white-ball cricketer in the world at the moment.”
Pieter Seelaar gives an interview. Asked what went right, he says the wicket of Jason Roy was pretty good. “Joking apart,” he adds, “we dropped some catches and you can’t do that.” He talks a lot about learning.
In other news, Kate Bush has gone to No 1 with Running Up That Hill. Stranger Things have happened.
Buttler is talking like a captain-elect, praising other players. “Great to see Sam Curran back in an England shirt today,” he says. “Really exciting time for us.”
You didn’t look to get too funky, Mark Butcher observes. “Trying to work out the conditions,” Buttler says, “what feels right on the day. And certainly trying to back my six-hitting a lot more than I have in the last one or two years, standing still and trying to hit sixes. That was the plan today.” It seems to have worked: he hit 14 sixes and England collected 26 of them, another new world record.
The Player of the Match, sure enough, is Jos Buttler. “I was feeling in good touch,” he says.
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Are you old enough to remember when Jonny Bairstow missed the record for England’s fastest Test hundred by one ball? Well, Jos Buttler did the same thing today with the world record for the fastest 150 in an ODI. AB de Villiers got there in 64 balls, Buttler in 65.
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This is NOT England’s biggest win by runs in an ODI. That came against .... Australia, at Trent Bridge in 2018.
England win! Just
Wicket! Boissevain c Buttler b Malan 5 (Netherlands 266 all out, Edwards 72 no) On comes Dawid Malan for a rare over, and his leg-break defeats Boissevain! Jos Buttler, soon to be made the Player of the Match, takes the catch, and that is that. England win by 232 runs.
49th over: Netherlands 261-9 (Edwards 67, Boissevain 5) With his fifty in the bag, Edwards sets about getting the 251 required for victory. He belts Curran for four, two, four, two, one, timing the ball sweetly enough to make you wonder why they didn’t try this earlier.
Curran finishes with two for 45 off nine. I hope his back isn’t too stiff tonight.
48th over: Netherlands 248-9 (Edwards 54, Boissevain 5) A big over for the batters as they forage their way to 11 off Topley with some ones and twos, plus a nicked four. The 250 is on!
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Fifty to Edwards!
Scott Edwards tucks for two and reaches a fine fifty off 45 balls, a good effort after having to keep wicket through the blitz. He is the Netherlands’ top scorer in the so-called World Cup Super League, in which, alas, they are bottom.
47th over: Netherlands 237-9 (Edwards 49, Boissevain 0) Here comes Philippe Boissevain, who is somewhat overdrawn after conceding 108 off his ten overs this morning. Mind you, when it comes to the most expensive ODI bowling, he’s not even on the podium.
Wicket! Dutt b Topley 0 (Netherlands 236-9)
46th over: Netherlands 236-9 (Edwards 48) And another one! Aryan Dutt tries a whip across the line and if he misses, Topley hits.
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45th over: Netherlands 233-8 (Edwards 46, Dutt 0) A successful return for Sam Curran, still the man who makes things happen.
“I’ve enjoyed the OBO commentary,” says Matt D, “as I’ve slugged through my work day in a similar fashion to England’s batters so thanks as always!” Our pleasure.
“Just wondering, do you get less emails when it’s an England ODI on account of the team actually being quite good? I’ve said before about the Test team that we enjoy the misery, and of course everyone likes to be an armchair captain / selector. Can’t really do that with Morgan and co. can we?” Just try and stop us.
“Anyway, just remember, even when you think you’re on your own in the OBO, there’s always someone watching over you. So stay on your best behaviour.” Ha.
For what it’s worth, we got loads of emails when England were tearing up the Test-match textbook on Tuesday. And when they won the World Cup on that Sunday afternoon at Lord’s, we got so many that I was still going through them on the Wednesday.
Wicket! Snater b Curran 4 (Netherlands 232-8)
As with the ball, Snater can’t quite deliver on his early promise. He plays all round Curran’s yorker and leaves his team in danger of not making it to Simon McMahon’s revised target of 250.
44th over: Netherlands 228-7 (Edwards 42, Snater 4) Here’s Shane Snater, who gave the home fans hope a long long time ago, by dismissing his cousin Jason Roy. He starts well with the bat too, dancing down the track to wallop Willey for four.
Wicket! Seelaar b Willey 25 (Netherlands 224-7)
Willey, coming round the wicket, angles the ball into leg stump, and if Seelaar misses, he hits. The Netherlands’ captain departs with his team needing 43 runs an over.
43rd over: Netherlands 223-6 (Edwards 41, Seelaar 25) A hint of defiance as Scott Edwards lofts Rashid for six. Rashid finishes with none for 59 off his ten (plus a great catch). He bowled better than that, not that it will rankle.
42nd over: Netherlands 212-6 (Edwards 30, Seelaar 24) Just a couple of singles off Willey. Do you get the feeling this is a bit of a formality?
41st over: Netherlands 210-6 (Edwards 30, Seelaar 23) Moeen has finished his stint, with three for 57, so Rashid is back at the slow end. His over goes for seven, which means the Dutchmen have avoided the heaviest defeat ever in ODIs. The record still belongs to Ireland, who lost by 290 runs to New Zealand in 2008. In Aberdeen, of all places. That man Brendon McCullum! Check out the opening partnership.
40th over: Netherlands 203-6 (Edwards 26, Seelaar 20) Willey continues at the left-arm end. The batters take five off the over, which means the 200 is up and the target comes crashing down below 300. Just 296 needed off the last ten.
39th over: Netherlands 198-6 (Edwards 24, Seelaar 17) Hold the back page: the Dutchmen are going for it! Edwards sweeps Moeen for four, then does it again, in reverse. Thirteen off the over! The required rate, cruel as ever, climbs to 27.
“Hello Tim, I’m Simon (Capricorn) and I like all formats of cricket,” says Simon McMahon. “If the Netherlands can get halfway to England’s total, they might claim some sort of moral victory. Make 250, yet lose by 250 runs. That’s not something you would have thought possible in 1977.” At the teenage disco, we talked of little else.
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38th over: Netherlands 185-6 (Edwards 14, Seelaar 14) Yet another over, from Topley, goes for three. The three left-arm seamers all have much the same figures: a wicket apiece, for between 28 and 34. The two spinners are va study in contrasts, with three wickets for Moeen and none for Rashid.
Liam Livingstone is going off again, with a hobble. Last time he was thoroughly disgruntled, but this time he’s smiling.
37th over: Netherlands 182-6 (Edwards 12, Seelaar 13) Fortified by a drink, Seelaar hits Moeen for four. Off the edge! That may be a catch missed by Jos Buttler, not that it will stop him being the player of the match.
“Is there a rule,” wonders Michael Quinton, “that when the required run rate exceeds 36 per over the match is won? At current rates this will probably be with 7 or 8 overs to go.” There probably should be.
36th over: Netherlands 175-6 (Edwards 12, Seelaar 6) Topley returns at the leaft-arm-seam end, concedes three, and takes us to drinks. You can probably work out which team are on top.
Meanwhile Dominic Cork is commentating, and, thrilling though he was as a swing bowler, he’s not adding much value. He says he can’t for the life of him understand why Broad and Anderson were dropped [from the Test squad in the Caribbean], but then adds that England will need to try out younger seamers to see who could succeed them. That’s exactly why they were left out. You may not agree with it, but there was method in Andrew Strauss’s madness.
Now, in a most unexpected development, we have an email. “Hello fellow Tim,” says Tim Hoult in Tetbury. “Reading back over the OBO of England’s innings made it sound a bit like a game of Stick Cricket - especially Liam Livingstone’s 22 ball bludgeoning. Must... resist... urge... to... play...”
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35th over: Netherlands 172-6 (Edwards 12, Seelaar 3) Seelaar finally gets off the mark, cutting his eighth ball (from Moeen) for two. The Dutchmen are idling along at three or four an over when they need 21. I suppose there are worse things to go through than the motions.
34th over: Netherlands 168-6 (Edwards 11, Seelaar 0) Scott Edwards, the Dutch keeper, is trying to do what Vikramjit Singh did at the start – get the runs by himself. If he had a fortnight, it might just work.
33rd over: Netherlands 165-6 (Edwards 8, Seelaar 0) So here is Pieter Seelaar, the captain who has the misfortune of having conceded the highest score in 50-over history. He arrives to find the required run rate a shade under 20: time, surely, for a captain’s innings.
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Wicket! van Beek c Roy b Moeen 6 (Netherlands 165-6)
A clip to midwicket, a third scalp for Moeen, and a catch for Jason Roy, who slightly missed out earlier, when he made 1/498th of England’s runs. He looks comically delighted.
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32nd over: Netherlands 162-5 (Edwards 5, van Beek 6) Sam Curran is given a slip, but can’t persuade the batters to get a nick. Three off the over: it’s been a nice gentle outing for Sammy C, who has one for 25 from his five overs.
31st over: Netherlands 159-5 (Edwards 3, van Beek 5) And now we have a collector’s item: a poor field setting from Eoin Morgan. With two new batters in, he fails to give Moeen a slip. Logan van Beek plays a regulation nick and gets four for it. Slip is a run-saving position!
After regaling us with Hi Ho Silver Lining, the PA has moved onto Dancing Queen. Someone has clearly handed them the playlist of the teenage disco I went to in Rutland in August 1977. Next up: Float On by the Floaters.
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Wicket! Cooper c Salt b Moeen 23 (Netherlands 151-5)
One brings two! Cooper tries to go large but doesn’t fully commit and gives Phil Salt a comfortable catch at deep midwicket, the cherry on top of his first England hundred.
30th over: Netherlands 151-4 (Cooper 23, Edwards 0) That partnership had just reached 50, but there wasn’t much cause for celebration as it had eaten up 11.2 overs.
Wicket! de Leede c Livingstone b Curran 28 (Netherlands 150-4)
Sam Curran, the man who makes things happen, bowls a waspish bouncer and Bas de Leede can only pull it to Liam Livingstone, who is back on the field.
29th over: Netherlands 149-3 (Cooper 21, de Leede 28) Moeen replaces his mate Adil and goes for five runs. More interestingly, a caption shows the highest men’s ODI team scores of all time. The top one, England’s 498 today, and the fourth, by Sri Lanka, both took place at this ground, Amstelveen on the outskirts of Amsterdam. The second and third highest scores both came at Trent Bridge. It’s official: Nottingham is the Amsterdam of the west.
28th over: Netherlands 144-3 (Cooper 20, de Leede 24) Bas de Leede has got the memo! As David Willey gives way to the less rapid Sam Curran, Bas gives it a bash, dancing down the track and lofting for six. A few bits and bobs make 10 off the over. If only they didn’t need 16...
27th over: Netherlands 134-3 (Cooper 18, de Leede 16) And only three off this one from Rashid. Christ, I know it ain’t easy, but I’m still a bit surprised to find these two playing for a draw.
26th over: Netherlands 131-3 (Cooper 16, de Leede 15) Only three off Willey’s over. It’s all over bar the singing, which has moved on from Hey Jude to Uptown Girl.
25th over: Netherlands 127-3 (Cooper 15, de Leede 12) A testing over from Rashid, who finds some more turn and allows only two singles. So, at the halfway stage, the Netherlands have made a smidgen over a quarter of the runs. Time to do or die, guys.
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24th over: Netherlands 125-3 (Cooper 14, de Leede 11) Morgan, sticking to the OBO gameplan, replaces Topley with Willey, who concedes only three. The asking rate has crept up to 14 an over.
23rd over: Netherlands 121-3 (Cooper 13, de Leede 9) Four singles off Rashid’s over, which is interrupted by some very amusing person running onto the field. The PA plays Hey Jude, and the whole crowd launches into it, as if they know that its author turns 80 tomorrow. In case you’re wondering how that song became Paul McCartney’s greatest hit, here’s one I prepared earlier.
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22nd over: Netherlands 117-3 (Cooper 11, de Leede 7) Six off Topley’s over as these two continue to accumulate. More importantly, Liam Livingstone is going off with an injury, possibly a calf strain. He didn’t hurt himself walloping 66 off 22 balls, but now he’s done a muscle trotting about in the field. As he heads into the pavilion, he whacks the fence in frustration.
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21st over: Netherlands 111-3 (Cooper 7, de Leede 5) Cooper sweeps Rashid for two. They’ve got through half his overs and handled him well so far, playing reasonably safe (no wickets) without being too tentative (32 runs).
20th over: Netherlands 106-3 (Cooper 3, de Leede 4) Topley continues and drops short, which is fine by Cooper and Bas de Leede. Bas, as you know, is the son of Tim, who captained the Netherlands for years, and the cousin of Babette, who keeps wicket for the Dutch women’s T20 team. Is there any footage of Bas and Babette playing in the back garden? I think we should be told.
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19th over: Netherlands 102-3 (Cooper 2, de Leede 1) It turns out that Rashid was just changing ends, and rightly so as he soon finds some big turn with his little-seen legbreak. Morgan and Buttler worked out that the turn was all coming at Moeen’s end, so I suspect it’s now going to be spin at one end, left-arm seam at the other, until the Dutchmen are all out in the 40th over for a plucky but futile 220.
Drinks: only 399 needed
And that’s drinks, with the Dutchmen not quite flying but doing very respectably. They have knocked off one fifth of the runs.
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Wicket! O'Dowd b Topley 55 (Netherlands 100-3)
18th over: Netherlands 100-3 (Cooper 2) Morgan takes Rashid off after 3-0-25-0 and brings back Reece Topley, who has an appeal for LBW against Cooper. England review, unwisely, as the angle (left-arm round) is carrying the ball down the leg side. Morgan’s day at this stage: lost the toss, got a golden duck, messed up a review (but saw his team break a world record). And then Morgan’s day suddenly gets better as Topley finds a bail-skimmer to get rid of the gifted O’Dowd. That, surely, is curtains.
17th over: Netherlands 98-2 (O’Dowd 53, Cooper 2) So Max O’Dowd is joined by Tom Cooper – I dunno, these Dutch names... Both men average about 49 in ODIs and they get their partnership under way with some confident singles.
The replays show that some of the credit for the wicket should go to Moeen, who found just enough turn to mess up Musa’s timing.
Wicket! Musa c Rashid b Moeen 21 (Netherlands 95-2)
Rashid strikes back! It’s a pretty good shot by Musa, a ramp off Moeen, but Rashid sees it coming from fine leg and takes a catch that is astute as well as athletic.
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Fifty to Max O'Dowd!
16th over: Netherlands 95-1 (O’Dowd 52, Musa 20) O’Dowd switches to the orthodox sweep to hit Rashid for four and go to a fine fifty. “He’s played beautifully,” says Mark Butcher.
15th over: Netherlands 89-1 (O’Dowd 47, Musa 20) Now, facing Moeen, O’Dowd plays a reverse sweep for four. He has 47 off 43 balls. Are you an Englishman in disguise?
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14th over: Netherlands 84-1 (O’Dowd 42, Musa 20) O’Dowd enjoyed hitting Rashid for six so much, he does it again now. It bounces up onto one of the windows of the press box, where it shatters the glass – that’s one way to get your name in the paper. Just behind that pane of glass is my colleague Tanya Aldred, reporting for The Guardian. I hope she’s OK!
13th over: Netherlands 75-1 (O’Dowd 34, Musa 19) Moeen gets one to turn quite sharply – it thuds into O’Dowd’s pad and is doing too much to bring an LBW. Is this pitch about to go from a road to a dustbowl?
12th over: Netherlands 71-1 (O’Dowd 32, Musa 17) Here is Rashid, starting as steadily as ever but then going for the first six of the innings! It’s a fine shot by Max O’Dowd, who anticipates the googly and whips it with the spin over midwicket.
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11th over: Netherlands 61-1 (O’Dowd 25, Musa 14) WIth the PowerPlay done, Morgan brings on a spinner. It’s Moeen with his offbreaks rather than Rashid with his googlies. He makes a decent start and has an appeal for LBW, voiced only by Jos Buttler as the ball hit O’Dowd on the waistband.
10th over: Netherlands 55-1 (O’Dowd 24, Musa 10) Time to tuck into Curran. O’Dowd pulls for four again, but softly, as if playing a lob in tennis, to clear the fielder at short fine. That brings up the fifty off 58 balls. And then he drives again, so he now has 24 at a run a ball. And still he faces a situation of utter hopelessness.
9th over: Netherlands 47-1 (O’Dowd 16, Musa 9) After that rather timid display against Curran, the Dutchmen need to do something drastic. Cometh the hour, cometh Max O’Dowd, with a pull for four off Willey, followed by an off-drive for four more. Ten off the over! But even that is not enough – the required rate is 11.
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8th over: Netherlands 37-1 (O’Dowd 8, Musa 9) And here is Curran Jr. It’s great to see him return from serious injury – the stress fracture of the back that is de rigueur for England seamers – though we did glimpse him in the winter in his capacity as possibly the youngest TV pundit of all time. Bowling cutters (I think), he concedes a single first ball and then joins the dots – five of them.
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7th over: Netherlands 35-1 (O’Dowd 7, Musa 9) Willey seems to have stopped swinging the ball, which doesn’t bode well for Sam Curran.
Brian Murgatroyd, on commentary, reveals that England’s last 200 runs today came off 74 balls. It’s raining stats.
6th over: Netherlands 29-1 (O’Dowd 5, Musa 8) Four off the over from Topley, so the Dutchmen have 29 off their first 30 balls. Any time from 1971 to 1995, this would have counted as a strong start.
5th over: Netherlands 25-1 (O’Dowd 5, Musa 4) Musa flicks Willey to long leg for what should be a single, but some hard running conjures up a second. Some things England can do, the Netherlands can do too.
Jos Buttler, by the way, has just become the first Englishman with a career strike rate, in ODIs, of 120 (min. 10 matches). Only six other Englishmen have managed 100. Three are quite easy to guess – Roy, Bairstow and Moeen. Three less so – Plunkett, Adil Rashid and Matthew Fleming, the sole representative of the 20th century. Full list here.
4th over: Netherlands 21-1 (O’Dowd 4, Musa 1) Topley continues to Max O’Dowd, who was the sleeping partner in the opening stand. He wakes up now, holding his bat in the air like a baseball star and getting off the mark with a square drive. Musa Ahmad gets going too, with a dab to third man, and then O’Dowd plays a nice pick-up for three. Shot of the innings so far!
3rd over: Netherlands 15-1 (O’Dowd 0, Musa Ahmad 0) That’s a great over from Willey, who had been swinging it away. The Netherlands need another 484 for a famous victory. But they were crafty to keep Dawid Malan in for so long – otherwise they might be chasing 600.
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Wicket! Vikramjit b Willey 13 (Netherlands 15-1)
Scrap that! Vikramjit backs away outside leg stump and pays the price as he’s too far away to reach Willey’s nip-backer, which clips the off bail. Still, he made 13 times as many runs as Jason Roy and Eoin Morgan put together.
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2nd over: Netherlands 13-0 (Vikramjit 11, O’Dowd 0) Vikramjit has a plan: to get them on his own. And it’s going pretty well so far, as he carves Reece Topley for four. He’s a left-hander and he seems to have a taste for left-arm seam, which is lucky as England have nothing else bar their three spinners.
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1st over: Netherlands 6-0 (Vikramjit 4, O’Dowd 0) The Dutchmen won the first two overs of the day, reducing England to 5-1. And now they start well themselves, as Vikramjit Singh punches David Willey past cover for three, clips a single off his pads and picks up a couple of extras too. Only another 493 to go.
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Thanks Geoff, afternoon everyone and welcome to the most daunting run chase in history.
Netherlands must chase 499 to win
That is the highest List A innings score ever recorded. The best in men’s ODI cricket was England’s 481 against Australia at Trent Bridge. The best in women’s ODIs was New Zealand’s 491 against Ireland in Dublin.
The best in all domestic 50-over cricket was Surrey’s 496 against Gloucestershire in 2007.
Now, there is a new holder. Not quite to the 500, but top of the tree.
What a display of hitting. Livingstone scored 66 from 22. Buttler 162 from 70. England hit 26 sixes today, which means 156 runs by that method alone.
And don’t forget, Netherlands won the toss and asked them to bat.
That’s it for me. Tim de Lisle will be the one to take you through the chase, such as it might be in the circumstances. The rest of you, take a deep breath and lie down.
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A record!
50th over: England 498-4 (Buttler 162, Livingstone 66) England start the last over 23 short of making 500. Buttler hits a couple of deuces before finding one more six, his 14th of the innings, over midwicket. That leaves England on 488 with two balls to come, and Livingstone so nearly gets them there. The final ball of the day goes over midwicket for six. The second-last ball of the day falls just short, for four.
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49th over: England 477-4 (Buttler 151, Livingstone 56) Having not seen strike in several overs, Buttler can’t break a de Villiers record either. A deuce, a single, and eventually he raises his 150 from 65 deliveries. One slower than ABDV. None too shabby. But Logan van Beek bowls a really good over, nailing his yorkers to keep the scoring to seven runs.
48th over: England 470-4 (Buttler 146, Livingstone 54) Everybody is trying to break an AB de Villiers record. His mark for the fastest 50 is 16 balls. Livingstone goes to 46 off 13 when he smashes Snater over cover. But his next attempt at a six goes miles up in the air, comes down behind square leg, and while it gets dropped by Bas de Leede making up a lot of ground, it only nets Livingstone two runs. He then misses out twice as Snater outsmarts him with slower balls that evade the bat. By the time Livingstone belts another six down the ground, he’s taken 17 balls and the record remains unbroken.
If you’re playing along at home, that is obviously the second-fastest all time, and the fastest for England.
47th over: England 457-4 (Buttler 146, Livingstone 42) Now Buttler, with 146 from 62 balls, can’t get on strike. Livingstone bashes a couple of fours from van Beek, and he has 42 from 12 balls. This is wild.
46th over: England 446-4 (Buttler 145, Livingstone 33) Boissevain to Livingstone, and that may not be the match-up you want.
Four. Six. Six. Six. Four. Six.
Mick Lewis’ record is still intact, if you’re worried. That was 113 conceded during South Africa’s 438 chase. But Phillipe Boissevain, who started so well in his first few overs, has gone for 108 wicketless runs today.
Most of Livingtone’s shots in that over are smeared over midwicket, with a couple over long-off. Goodness. 32 from the over.
45th over: England 414-4 (Buttler 145, Livingstone 1) Truly bizarre cricket. Out comes Livingstone on a hat-trick, drives a single to defuse the delivery. One left in the over. Seelar tries to dart through a yorker. Buttler crushes it over long-off for six more! Lucky 13 for Buttler. He could break the AB de Villiers record for the fastest 150 here. Got two balls to spare, or three to equal it.
WICKET! Morgan lbw Seelar 0, England 407-4
What the actual? England have over 400, and Pieter Seelar is on a hat-trick. The Netherlands skipper hits his counterpart captain on the pad first ball. It looks like that one his pitched outside the left-hander’s leg stump, so the umpire says no. Seelar reviews, as is his perogative, and DRS says: Roxanne, you have to put on three red lights.
WICKET! Malan c de Leede b Seelar 125, England 407-3
Finally, something for Netherlands. Malan lifts the spinner over the leg side, behind square, but needs another couple of metres on the shot. It comes down just inside the rope and requires a good catch. You would think that would bring Liam Livingstone to the crease, but Eoin Morgan sends himself out instead.
44th over: England 401-2 (Malan 121, Buttler 138) Dawid Malan finally gets in on the act, lifting Boissevain straight over the sight screen. The length was there to hit. But Buttler doesn’t care about the length. Or the line. He’s not to the pitch of his next big swing. It lands short of him, spins away from him, outside off stump. And he still cross-bats it over wide long-on for six. Raises the 400. Requires another replacement ball as that one isn’t coming back. That makes 12 sixes for Buttler.
43rd over: England 385-2 (Malan 114, Buttler 129) This is absolute carnage. It’s the cricket version of the last half hour of The Blues Brothers. Another six for Buttler to start the 43rd over, belting Snater over long-off. He goes off side again for four runs over cover. It feels like the over calms down with some wides, singles, twos, but it still costs 17 runs. We’re now looking at 400 as a formality.
Century! Buttler 101 from 47 balls
42nd over: England 368-2 (Malan 113, Buttler 114) Short, easy, and swatted away. Dutt provides the length, Buttler goes back and pummels it. The third century in this England innings. And that is the second-fastest century ever scored for England in one-day cricket.
The fastest? That was Buttler too, in 46 balls. What is now the third-fastest was Buttler in 50. So he has the full podium now.
He celebrates with another six, punted over the leg side off the spinner. Then another one, just to be sure. Then a single to keep the strike.
He’s 114 from 50 balls. He’s hit 10 sixes. And he’s gone past Dawid Malan’s score, after coming out in the 30th over, when Malan came out in the second over.
41st over: England 346-2 (Malan 112, Buttler 93) Ten overs to go. How big are we going?
HUGE.
Biggest hit of the day from Buttler, picking up van Beek’s attempt at a yorker and lamping it over the sightscreen, into the trees again. The ground staff find the ball, in the end, and van Beek’s attempt at the wide yorker concedes a wide, then returns him a dot ball. Comparatively that’s a great result for Netherlands.
The bowler tries the same again, and Buttler gets a fat inside edge for two runs to fine leg. Wide again, chased again, squeezed to deep backward for two. Then a good yorker, one that Buttler can only keep out. Give him four runs in three balls and it feels like a win.
40th over: England 334-2 (Malan 110, Buttler 83) The stand-up scoop from Buttler! Shapes to scoop, expecting a length ball from de Leede, who instead bowls a slow bouncer. The leg-stump line though gives Buttler time to adjust to the length, and catch up to the ball with his scoop shot. Four runs over fine leg. Next ball, same delivery, same shot, same result.
It doesn’t stop there. Pace on, at the stumps, and Buttler plays a whip shot over midwicket for six. Such clean timing, creamed away. Then another slow bouncer, this time outside the off stump, and Buttler dabs it gently through deep third.
That makes 20 runs from Buttler’s last five balls. Bas de Leede has gone for 65 from 30.
39th over: England 313-2 (Malan 110, Buttler 63) A bit ropey again from Buttler, slicing van Beek through cover for four, then immaculate control from Malan, lifting the bowler over wide long-on for a one-bouncer. Wides, singles, 13 from the over, van Beek at least has a wicket today but has conceded 52 runs in his seven overs.
38th over: England 300-2 (Malan 105, Buttler 57) Aryan Dutt tries to slow things down. Does a decent job, two from the first ball and singles after that, Buttler unable to get a switch hit away to end the over. Seven runs is a win for the orange team at this point.
That’s 300 for England. They’ve added 48 in the last four overs. So, 400 is very much on the cards unless wickets fall.
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37th over: England 293-2 (Malan 103, Buttler 52) The helicopter takes off! Just about, anyway. That whipping action with the wrists, that allows Buttler to lift a yorker length delivery over long off for a huge six. Extraordinary. Shane Snater the unlucky bowler. Four singles besides. Buttler gets a half-century in 27 balls.
Century! Dawid Malan 100 from 90 balls
36th over: England 283-2 (Malan 99, Buttler 38) Buttler has kept the strike, and starts against Boissevain by gliding four more runs. Finally he turns over the strike, and Malan knocks a ball away to midwicket. That is his first one-day century for England, and lets him join Buttler and Heather Knight as the only England players with a century in all three formats.
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35th over: England 274-2 (Malan 99, Buttler 38) Oh, goodness me. Seelar the bowler. Buttler has no interest in hanging around. He goes long down the ground. Vikramjit Singh at long-on sees the hit and runs in from the rope. Too far in. It goes over his head for six. Would have landed in his hands had he stayed put.
What does Buttler do? Hits another six, into the crowd this time. Deep midwicket.
Then another one. Over Vikramjit by miles.
Tries for a fourth one. Hits it flat to long-off. And is dropped by Musa Ahmed. Flat, into the hands, into the chest, out again.
Two lives in the over for a monstrous hitter who takes 21 runs from it, while Malan waits at the other end on 99.
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34th over: England 253-2 (Malan 99, Buttler 17) Seven runs from Boissevain’s over. He’s only gone for two fours and one six, but has still conceded 52 from seven overs so far. They’ve worked him without attacking him.
33rd over: England 246-2 (Malan 94, Buttler 15) There goes Joseph Buttler. A bit of mid-range spin, that’s exactly what he likes. Waits for Seelar and hits a long straight drive into the woods and loses the ball in the process. Nine from the over, once a new ball is found and play continues.
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32nd over: England 237-2 (Malan 93, Buttler 7) A big task for Boissevain to take on Buttler. Overpitches with his first ball and it gets a drag-drive straight for four. Second ball is short but Buttler pulls rather than cutting, unable to beat the field. Produces the cut shot after that but finds the cover sweeper for one. That brings the left-hander onto strike, and Malan caresses a cover drive when the ball is angled across him. Four.
31st over: England 228-2 (Malan 89, Buttler 2) Four runs from the Seelar over. Buttler takes his time, has a look, defends a flighted delivery, works a couple of singles. One of them via that hockey-style cover drives that he enjoys.
30th over: England 224-2 (Malan 87, Buttler 0) A drinks break following the wicket, a Malan single, and that’s it. So. Buttler is used to coming in to open a T20 innings. And now he will begin his day’s work with 20 overs to go.
WICKET! Salt c Boissevain b van Beek 122, England 223-2
At last, something for the Dutch. Salt cuts a fairly regulation delivery, gets a swirling top edge rather than the middle, and Boissevain is able to take the catch scooting around from backward point. Relief for Netherlands, but next in is Jos Buttler.
29th over: England 218-1 (Salt 118, Malan 86) The captain brings himself back on, Pieter Seelar trying to regain some control, and that’s nice in theory but not so good when he finishes the over with a full toss that Salt hits into the trees beyond the grass banks and has it bounce back off the trunk into the field of play.
28th over: England 208-1 (Salt 110, Malan 84) On the run now is Malan, as Bas de Leede comes back and goes for two boundaries straight away. One carved over point, the next driven through midwicket. Hands the strike to Salt, who picks off a leg-stumper and lifts it over backward square. The line changes to outside off stump, so Salt slashes an angled bat through it and hits it to the cover fence.
Century! Phil Salt 100 from 82 balls
27th over: England 190-1 (Salt 101, Malan 75) Jonny Bairstow busy with the Test team, Jason Roy out early, and Phil Salt in their stead has made his first century for England. A simple tuck to deep midwicket does the job, and a solid celebration follows. He’s done it at a fast clip too. Has the chance to go much bigger. Malan has a similar milestone in his sights now, moving to 74 by flicking Snater to fine leg.
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26th over: England 182-1 (Salt 99, Malan 69) The reverse sweep comes out from Malan against Dutt, finding the fence for four. Two more runs through the covers, then at last the single to give strike to Salt. Dot ball first, back to the bowler. A gently driven single. Salt drying up a bit.
25th over: England 174-1 (Salt 98, Malan 62) Shane Snater returns, having bowled four overs earlier. Fast enough, disciplined enough line, giving away nothing but singles until the last ball of the over when Salt gets a thick edge to the boundary through the vacant slips. He’s so close now to his hundred.
24th over: England 165-1 (Salt 92, Malan 59) Aryan Dutt gets through a tidy over for five runs. He’s just trying to avoid being hit at the moment, darting it through like he’s aiming for a 180 to start the leg well.
23rd over: England 160-1 (Salt 91, Malan 55) Boissevain keeps bowling boundary-less overs that still concede a lot of runs. Eight from this set, including a no-ball, but keeps Malan scoreless from the free hit.
22nd over: England 152-1 (Salt 89, Malan 50) Dutt can’t slow down the run rate, with Salt skipping back into his crease and pulling a shorter ball away for four. There’s a fielder at deep square leg but it’s too well struck for him. Malan raises a half-century for himself with a punched single.
21st over: England 146-1 (Salt 84, Malan 49) At last Malan takes on the leggie. A bit of loop from Boissevain, and Malan can stand and deliver with a straight drive. No foot movement necessary. Six down the ground. Three singles besides. We’re not even at halfway. With Buttler, Morgan, Livingstone to come, this score could get huge.
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20th over: England 137-1 (Salt 82, Malan 42) Aryan Dutt comes on to bowl, another tall spinner, this time an off-breaker. Malan plays a neat late cut for four. Salt picks up a couple of singles. He’s realistically eyeing off an England hundred for the first time now, his previous best score was 60.
19th over: England 130-1 (Salt 80, Malan 37) Dawid Malan steps out and hits out, but miscues Boissevain down to long-off on the bounce. Salt pulls to the same part of the ground, but there’s no long-on for the right-hander and the ball clears the fielder in the circle. Gets stopped by the long-off coming across. No boundary from the over but the England bats still collect eight.
18th over: England 122-1 (Salt 76, Malan 34) The leg-spinner goes down to fine leg to field, and puts in a good sliding effort to save van Beek a boundary. A couple of singles, a driven brace for Salt, and another quiet over for Netherlands. Not many of those so far.
17th over: England 117-1 (Salt 72, Malan 33) Boissevain bowls his second over and does it very well. A couple of variations, a good length, and keeps them to two singles.
16th over: England 115-1 (Salt 71, Malan 32) Logan van Beek to take up the cudgels after the break. Does well to snatch a couple of straight hits off his own bowling on the bounce, denying runs, but when he drops short Phil Salt basically hits a home run to left field. Couldn’t strictly call it a pull shot but it does the job for six.
15th over: England 105-1 (Salt 62, Malan 31) Now it’s time for leg-spin, via Phillippe Boissevain. Tall gangly sort with a mop of blond hair, a Tony Greig-looking spinner. Fairly high arm action but not completely 12 o’clock in the Cameron White mould. Darts it through with a grunt of effort, trying to skid off the pitch. A good enough start, ones and twos the only scores. Drinks.
14th over: England 99-1 (Salt 60, Malan 27) Around the wicket now for de Leede against the left-handed Malan, and the bowler hits a nice line again when he hits it, but intersperses that with another wide and a half-volley for Salt to drive for four. The next boundary isn’t the bowler’s fault, off the top edge of an angled bat, but England are flying after the early wicket of Roy.
13th over: England 88-1 (Salt 51, Malan 26) Malan takes a craps table review, rolling the dice after missing a reverse sweep and being hit in front of middle and leg stump by a straight delivery from the spinner Seelar. And gets lucky! Malan’s eyes are darting around after referring, you can tell when players don’t believe in their reviews. The soundwave technology takes an age to come up, then the ball-tracking does the same. There is no edge, but the tracker says the ball is slipping just past leg stump. Looked very much out on a first glance. Salt follows up with a flat loft over mid-off for four, the Sussex man raising his second half-century for England in his fourth match of one-day cricket.
12th over: England 82-1 (Salt 46, Malan 25) Bas de Leede starts off better, bowls one wide but then three dots on the spin, tight on the off stump line, and then has Salt dropped. Slips the ball wider, Salt cuts hard to Snater at deep point, and the opening bowler lets the flat hard shot burst through his hands. Not easy but basic enough. Salt takes two runs, then follows up by clouting four through mid on.
11th over: England 75-1 (Salt 40, Malan 25) One out of the lucky dip for Malan, who misses a reverse sweep but sufficiently distracts the keeper that the ball goes through for four byes. Four singles follow from the Seelar over. The spinner has already bowled three.
10th over: England 67-1 (Salt 38, Malan 23) Bas de Leede comes on to bowl, being talked up by... I’m going to guess that’s Peter Borren on commentary? New Zealand accent with a deep knowledge of Dutch players. Down leg goes de Leede with his first ball, then hits the angle across the lefty nicely after that. Schrodinger’s Borren says that de Leede can top 140 clicks when at his best. Only five from the bat in the over, but add three wides to that - one of them a stinker of a call from umpire Paul Reiffel after Malan moves across to the off side. So many umpires fail to adjudicate that law correctly.
9th over: England 59-1 (Salt 35, Malan 21) Here goes Malan. First ball of the Seelar over, he flights the ball and England’s number three walks down and lifts it straight, Matthew Hayden style. There’s a sizeable delay as about 12 helpers dig around in the bushes trying to find the ball. Only singles to follow, and nine from the over seems a bit of an escape for Seelar.
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8th over: England 50-1 (Salt 34, Malan 13) Snater carries on, a tidy line, and again its Malan picking off a single and Salt finding the rope, this time hitting hard down the ground to the on side of straight. There’s the first team milestone.
7th over: England 44-1 (Salt 29, Malan 12) Thanks Tim, and hello to everybody. Nice to be having a look at Amstelveen from many miles away. Nice for Salty Phil to have a look at an England spot as well, and he clubs another boundary through cover from Pieter Seelar, who I swear has been playing since I was a tiny child.
6th over: England 37-1 (Salt 24, Malan 11) Snater does well, mixing dots with singles, three of each. On the England balcony Eoin Morgan has his pads on, suggesting that he’s in next. On form he should probably be down at No 7, behind Buttler, Livingstone and Moeen, but England do need him to find his mojo before the T20 World Cup, so fair enough.
Meanwhile we have a change of bowling at the sofa end. The award-winning Geoff Lemon is going to be at the helm for the next 50 overs or so. I’ll see you later, for the thrilling Dutch run chase.
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5th over: England 34-1 (Salt 23, Malan 9) Malan shuffles over to off stump, which works better for him than it did for Alex Lees in the Caribbean. He drives van Beek past cover point for his first four, then clips to midwicket for three.
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4th over: England 25-1 (Salt 22, Malan 1) Snater comes down to earth as Salt hits two more fours – a handsome straight drive and a simple flick past fine leg, who is up in the circle.
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3rd over: England 17-1 (Salt 14, Malan 1) With Roy gone, it’s up to Salt to be the master blaster. He rises to the challenge now, cover-driving van Beek for four and pulling him for six! England have woken up.
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2nd over: England 5-1 (Salt 3, Malan 1) Dawid Malan comes in at No 3, in the role defined by Kane Williamson when he was playing under Brendon McCullum and said he was the library in the theme park. Malan tucks a single, whereupon Phil Salt chips over cover, rather unconvincingly, for three. Rumours that the pitch is a belter may have been exaggerated: the ball seems to be sticking a bit.
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Wicket! Roy b Snater 1 (England 1-1)
Jason Roy has gone! To his own cousin!! Small world. Well bowled Shane Snater, who went full, got some swing back in, and persuaded his cousin Jason to play on. Five minutes in, and this game is already beginning to resemble a banana skin.
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1st over: England 1-0 (Roy 1, Salt 0) The new ball is in the hands of Logan van Beek, who starts superbly, finding some swing, keeping Jason Roy quiet, and beating Phil Salt with a full-length outswinger. Netherlands on top!
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The players are out there, with the Dutch team resplendent in orange. If you love football as well as cricket, it’s hard not to root for any team dressed like that. Hoping they will play total cricket.
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Teams: England pick three lefties
You know how England tend to field too many right-arm seamers? Well, today they haven’t picked one. It’s three left-armers (Willey, Topley, Curran) and three spinners (Rashid, Moeen, Livingstone).
England 1 Jason Roy, 2 Phil Salt, 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Jos Buttler (wkt), 5 Liam Livingstone, 6 Eoin Morgan (capt), 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Sam Curran, 9 David Willey, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Reece Topley.
The Netherlands 1 Vikramjit Singh, 2 Max O’Dowd, 3 Musa Ahmed, 4 Bas de Leede, 5 Scott Edwards (wkt), 6 Tom Cooper, 7 Pieter Seelaar (capt), 8 Logan van Beek, 9 Shane Snater, 10 Aryan Dutt, 11 Philippe Boissevain.
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Toss: England bat first
Morning everyone and welcome to ... yet another England cricket match! With a difference this time – it’s in Amsterdam. And it doesn’t involve any of the heroes of Trent Bridge 2022. Now that Test cricket has turned into Twenty20, maybe we have to look to the 50-over game for a bit of peace and quiet.
The news from Amstelveen is that Eoin Morgan – remember him? – has lost the toss, and Pieter Seelaar has asked England to bat first. The pitch looks like a belter, so England will be eyeing 400 as they play theirs game under their new coach, Matthew Mott. Play starts at 10am UK time.
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Preamble
Morning everyone and welcome to ... yet another England cricket match! With a difference this time – it’s in Amsterdam. And it doesn’t involve any of the heroes of Trent Bridge 2022. Now that Test cricket has turned into Twenty20, maybe we have to look to the 50-over game for a bit of peace and quiet.
