Following hard on the heels of England’s 2-1 Test series victory comes a T20 International at the weekend followed by a five match T20 series. This match is being played in Durham, beginning at 3pm on Saturday.
England’s squad is a familiar one with one day specialists Morgan, Willey, Roy, Buttler, Jordan, and Alex Hales once more in the squad alongside three players from the recent test series Root, Bairstow and Malan. Pace bowler Tom Curran who impressed in the T20 game earlier in the summer is the single newer player in the squad
West Indies are the reigning World T20 champions, won in India in 2016. Their squad is as follows
Carlos Brathwaite (captain), Ronsford Beaton, Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Jason Mohammed, Sunil Narine, Ashley Nurse, Kieron Pollard, Rovman Powell, Marlon Samuels, Jerome Taylor, Chadwick Walton (wk), Kesrick Williams
“We have a good mix of experience and youth that should adapt to English conditions quickly,” chairman of selectors, Courtney Browne said.
The team comes off a victory against India in this format in the Caribbean in July
The experience Browne talks about includes the likes of Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Marlon Samuels and Jerome Taylor. Gayle and Pollard in particular, amongst these players back in the international fold having fallen out with the governing board, are potential match winners in the shorter formats.
Leading the younger players is opening batsman Evin Lewis who scored a 52 ball hundred in that game against India
Odds for the game are England 4/5 West Indies 6/5 with Bet365 amongst other green listed bookmakers. Whilst England are a settled and consistent side with match winners of their own seeing the West Indies at odds against is too tempting to ignore. Variance is high here, it could well be a shortened match in late season English conditions and I would be reluctant to take odds-on against any side.
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