West Indies vs England, 1st T20I preview, likely XIs: tourists up against Universe Boss again

West Indies blew England away in the Test series before the tourists found a consolation win to reduce the margin to a respectable 1-2. Then England, top-ranked in 50-over cricket, led twice in the ODI series, only for West Indies to draw level twice and draw the series 2-2.

England’s ordinary tour is likely to get worse from here, as T20 is the format West Indies are most potent at. Towering above anyone is the shadow of “Universe Boss” Chris Gayle, whose 39 sixes from 4 innings in the ODIs is now a world record by anyone in a single series or tournament in any format in international cricket.

And that is not where England’s woes end. While they got big runs on the relatively helpful pitches at Bridgetown and St George’s, they were undone by pace and bounce on a fresh, lively pitch at Darren Sammy International Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia. Oshane Thomas tore through them with 5/21 before Gayle, with 9 sixes, made sure West Indies won in the 13th over.

Indeed, things do look weak for England against the World T20 champions, more so in the absence of the explosive trio of Jason Roy, Jos Buttler, and Ben Stokes.

Head to head

History does not favour England either. They have won 4 T20Is against West Indies and lost 11, and their win-loss ratio of 0.363 is their worst against any side they have played 10 or more matches with. On the other hand, West Indies’ 2.75 is their best against any side.

On West Indies soil the teams have met 5 times. England were beaten quite convincingly on the first four occasions before winning a “dead rubber” encounter by 5 runs.

Venue details

The teams have never met here, but England have won both T20Is they have played here, against New Zealand and Sri Lanka in the 2010 World T20. West Indies, on the other hand, have lost to Australia twice, winning only once here, against Pakistan.

However, if the last ODI of the recently completed series is anything to do by, the pitch will assist the fast bowlers.

Key players

Chris Gayle (West Indies): So phenomenal has Gayle’s comeback been that he has actually contemplated reconsidering his retirement after the upcoming World Cup. Gayle scored two hundreds and two fifties in four innings, and it does not seem that he is not going to stop thrashing the English bowlers anytime soon.

Alex Hales (England): With Buttler and Roy both missing out, the onus will be on Hales to step up. Hales strikes at 136 in T20Is, but over the past two years that has shot up to 147. That is something the West Indians will need to be wary of.

Likely XIs:

West Indies: Chris Gayle, John Campbell, Shai Hope (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell, Jason Holder (c), Fabian Allen, Ashley Nurse, Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas.

England: Jonny Bairstow (wk), Alex Hales, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (c), Joe Denly, Dawid Malan, Moeen Ali, Mark Wood, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Tom Curran.

Predictions:

West Indies will take field as favourites, though they need to be wary of England’s batting firepower.