Lowest ODI total defended at Lords: Lowest innings score defended in Lord’s ODIs

Lowest ODI total defended at Lords: England have defended total less than 250 thrice at Lord’s in the past.

During the second ODI of the ongoing India’s tour of England at Lord’s, England stumbled for the second time in a row against an Indian bowling attack. While England did better than registering one of their lowest ODI innings totals, they still have not been able to manage a challenging score.

Put in to bat first by India captain Rohit Sharma for the second consecutive time, England looked comfortable for a large part of the first powerplay. However, Jason Roy (28) playing an aerial flick off India all-rounder Hardik Pandya in the ninth over ended up becoming a tipping point for five more wickets to fall in the next 20 overs or so.

Spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who had bowled only a couple of overs in the first ODI at The Oval on Tuesday, emerged as the pick of the Indian bowlers picking wickets of Jonny Bairstow (38), Joe Root (11), Ben Stokes (21) and Moeen Ali (47) in bowling figures of 10-0-47-4.

While all the four batters got out whilst playing their shots today, Chahal deserves credit for sticking to testing lines and lengths. Readers must note that Chahal now has the best figures for an Indian bowler at Lord’s.

Had it not been for all-rounders Ali and David Willey (41) standing their ground for crucial contributions in the second half of the innings, England could have been easily bundled out for less than 200 runs.

Lowest ODI total defended at Lords

Score	Team	Opposition	Year
183	India	West Indies	1983
204/5	Pakistan	England	1992
204	India	England	2004
221	West Indies	England	1976
225	England	West Indies	2007

It is noteworthy that England have defended a total less than 247 once at Lord’s in the past. While they have defended 248 runs twice here, restricting the Indian batters before this total would require a serious effort from their bowlers.