England v India T20 International at Edgbaston
View 15 photosMatthew Hoggard
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The final action of England’s summer schedule saw India return to Edgbaston just 5 days after their facile ODI success, for a T20 clash with many predicting another hammering for the home side. Our guests were joined by former England seamer Matthew Hoggard, who as well as starring for England for a number of years, only retired in 2013 after a long career with Yorkshire and Leicestershire. As it turned out, the match proved to be a riveting spectacle with England squeezing home by just 3 runs.
After winning the toss. England captain Eoin Morgan opted to bat, with the home side suffering the early loss of Roy and Moeen Ali to leave them on 27-2. However, some impressive batting from Root and Hales steadied the ship, before Jadeja and Sharma removed them in quick succession.Cue the England captain Morgan, who produced some astonishing hitting, lashing 71 from just 31 balls, ably supported by Ravi Bopara with 21 off just 9 balls, to take England to an imposing 180-7 at the 2o over close.
India’s reply began well, as despite losing Rahane early on, Dhawan and Kohli took them to 89, before the former was bowled by Chris Woakes. Despite good tempo knocks by Raina and Dhoni, they found themselves needing 26 off the last two overs. But some fine bowling at the death by Woakes and Harry Gurney left Dhoni needing a six from the last ball to win the match, which to the delight of England followers he failed to achieve.
It was a memorable day, made even more so for our guests by Matthew Hoggard, who shared some exciting and hilarious anecdotes from his long career for club and country. Our thanks go to the staff at Edgbaston, and ‘Hoggy’ for being such a good sport!
