After a horrendous performance in the ICC Cricket ODI World Cup 2023, it is time for the England cricket team to redeem themselves and give its fans something to rejoice about. They will be going one-on-one against the West Indies cricket team in a three-match T20I series followed by five T20 Internationals.
The first One Day International of the three-match series is all set to be played on Sunday at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua.
Despite poor performance both as the batter and leader in the World Cup, the England and Wales Cricket Board has again trusted Jos Buttler to lead the team. England might face a lack of experience in the ODI format as they will be without the services of Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, Dawid Malan, and Chris Woakes.
The likes of Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root and Mark Wood have also been rested for the series while Ben Stokes is injured and heading towards knee surgery.
Led by Shai Hope, West Indies will have two uncapped players in the squad in the form of Sherfane Rutherford and Matthew Forde. The team has also called Shane Dowrich again who last played an ODI for his team in 2019.
Meanwhile, the team will be missing Jason Holder and Nicholas Pooran in the 50-over format as they have decided to prioritize the shorter format.
What has happened so far?
The England cricket team is coming into the three-match ODI series following a below-average performance in the recently wrapped ICC ODI World Cup 2023. They failed to make the cut in the marquee event and ended up in the bottom half of the points table. Under the leadership of Jos Buttler, the English team ended up in seventh place in the points tally with just three wins to their name from a total of nine league matches.
Though England failed to qualify for the playoffs, they did gain some momentum towards the end of the tournament with two back-to-back wins in the league round. As far as the West Indies cricket team is concerned, they last played International cricket in August when they locked horns with India in a three-match ODI series and five T20 Internationals.
It was a good performance by the Caribbean team as they won the ODI series by 2-1 while the T20I series saw them recording a 3-2 win.
Head to Head Record
West Indies and England have played against each other in a total of 102 One-Day Internationals so far in the history of the gentlemen’s game. Jos Buttler and Men are leading the head-to-head records as they scored victory in 52 matches. West Indies, on the other hand, have scored a win in 44 games while six fixtures between the two sides ended without any result.
Key Players
Jos Buttler will be the key player for England on Sunday
Jos Buttler (England): It was a flop show for the England cricket team in the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 and one of the main reasons behind the same was the skipper Jos Buttler. The captaincy pressure seems to have taken a toll on the wicketkeeper-batter in the tournament as he failed to deliver even one excellent performance.
In nine matches, Buttler ended up with only 138 runs at a poor average of 15.33. However, better things are expected from the skipper in the three-match ODI series. A lot will depend on Buttler’s form as he can either take England towards a win or steer them towards another embarrassing loss.
Shai Hope (West Indies): West Indies would be disheartened about losing the chance to play in the ODI World Cup 2023 and thus would be hoping to redeem themselves with a series win against West Indies.
The one player who can help them achieve this dream is their skipper, Shai Hope who is one of the experienced players and the team would be hoping for him to unleash his full potential on Sunday during the first ODI.
The 30-year-old has so far represented West Indies in a whopping 118 ODIs scoring 4940 runs at a stunning average of over 50 and a strike rate of 76.9. He also has 15 centuries and 24 fifties to his name.
Predicted XIs
West Indies: Shai Hope © (wk), Brandon King, Alick Athanaze, Roston Chase, Shimron Hetmyer, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Alzarri Joseph, Yannic Cariah, Matthew Forde, Oshane Thomas
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Phil Salt, Ollie Pope, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler © (wk), Will Jacks, Sam Curran, Brydon Carse, Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson
Prediction
The England cricket team has better chances of scoring a win on Sunday and taking a lead of 1-0 in the three-match One Day series against West Indies. The team succumbed to a poor performance in the just-concluded ICC ODI World Cup 2023 as they ended up in seventh place in the points table with just three wins and six losses from nine league games.
However, they still got the required exposure and the players are likely to be in a good rhythm in the series against West Indies. England won its last two World Cup matches and the momentum from the same can help the team against the Caribbean nation.
West Indies, on the other hand, failed to qualify for the World Cup and their last outing in the 50-over format came in August. Thus, the players might be rusty and can take some time to get settled in the middle.