The two teams with the biggest hitters of the tournament will face each other at Southampton where finally some sunshine is expected during the day. This may look like an even contest, but West Indies has not won a single game against England in the World Cup since 1979 whereas England has won the next five encounters.
England will be playing a match after a gap of 6 days, are at number 4 in the points table and would be expecting to grab the 2 points against the dark horses of the tournament. A win here will place them above at number 2 spot.
England has a strong batting line up, which already everyone saw in their previous three outings. The only team to score 300 or more each time they went out to bat in this tournament.
Their bowling and fielding have been excellent, and the home fans are surely going to enjoy their team playing. However, England should remember that they couldn’t win the bilateral series against West Indies in the Carribean Island in March this year, despite being the better team.
West Indies, who lost their previous game Australia and a washout against South Africa, must be a little worried. They need to win this match to keep themselves in the hunt for the semis.
Their bowling reminds us of their great past, accurate and on target always in the two matches. However, they must remember that they have to bowl against one of the most reliable batting line up and power hitters. There is much hype when it comes to their batting, but they haven’t done anything extraordinary so far. Their top order must click if they want to beat England in a high-scoring game
The fielding has let them down a bit against Australia, which they can work upon as catches win matches, especially against the top teams, so their support is extremely critical.
Players to watch out
Chris Gayle had an excellent outing against the poms in the home series in which he smashed 424 runs at a strike rate of 134 with 39 sixes in 4 matches. He will be eyeing for a big hundred today, and if he does that, half the job is done for West Indies.
Jofra Archer, who was born and brought up in West Indies, will be critical against West Indian opener Chris Gayle. Jofra has been included in the place of Wiley to strengthen their bowling unit, which lacks aggression on the field. He is the primary threat to the West Indies, and they should play him out without any casualties.
England v Bangladesh in ODIs:
Overall: Matches 101, England Won 51, West Indies Won 44, No Result 6
World Cup: Matches 6, England won 5, West Indies won 1
Recent Form (most recent first): England W L W W W, West Indies NR L W L L
ICC Rankings: England (1), West Indies (8)
Upcoming Records:
Chris Gayle needs 24 runs against England to become the leading run-scorer in One-Day Internationals between two sides. Gayle has scored 1596 runs against England in 35 ODIs and is now only behind Sir Viv Richards who has 1619 runs in 36 ODIs.
Joe Root has scored 381 runs in World Cup and needs 119 more to reach the 500 runs milestone in the World Cup.
Mark Wood has taken 47 wickets and needs three more to become the 29th England player to reach the 50 wickets milestone.
Squads:
England: Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Jos Buttler (wk), Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, James Vince, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.
West Indies – Jason Holder (capt), Fabian Allen, Carlos Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell, Shannon Gabriel, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope (wk), Evin Lewis, Ashley Nurse, Nicholas Pooran, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Oshane Thomas.
