'Pulling' things under control
Two fine pull shots in back to back overs from Roy and Hales ignite confidence in the English locker room. A few short balls already, so reminiscent of the yesteryear's West Indies. They called it the perfume ball, didn't they? As of now, no such dangerous short-pitched bowling that has gone whizzing past the batsmen.
All set to begin..
Alex Hales and Jason Roy walk out to open the innings, and Jason Holder takes the new ball himself. Let's see how does he manage to inspire his bunch.
Team News
Alex Hales, who was out with a finger injury is back for this game and replaces Sam Billings in the eleven. On the other hand, the Windies are without the services of Shannon Gabriel, who is replaced by Miguel Cummins, no, wait.. in fact Alzarri Joseph comes into the side.
ElevensEngland (Playing XI): Jason Roy, Alex Hales, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan(c), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler(w), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Liam Plunkett, Steven FinnWest Indies (Playing XI): Kraigg Brathwaite, Evin Lewis, Kieran Powell, Shai Hope(w), Jason Mohammed, Jonathan Carter, Jason Holder(c), Carlos Brathwaite, Ashley Nurse, Devendra Bishoo, Alzarri JosephToss TimeWest Indies have won the toss and elected to field first.
The 22-yards TalkThere seems to be a lot of grass on the surface, some live grass and some dead, so a sprinkling of green and brown around. There should be some pace on this and seems firm by the look of it. Whether or not, it flattens out, we shall know that as the game progresses.Build UpIf it's a Sunday and if I know that there's nothing meaningful to do, I would spend my day lazing around in the comforts of my home. But then England don't think likewise, having already won the three-match ODI series with a game to play. Especially with the Champions Trophy lurking around, the visitors would not want any sort of a bargain with their winning momentum.
West Indies, on the other hand, have failed to qualify for the mega event in June and the only immediate reward up for grabs, is to reduce the gap between themselves and Pakistan in the rankings table.
Apart from that, this is nothing but a dead rubber but let's see how much juice can both the teams squeeze out of it today. Action unfolds here, I'm sure you wouldn't want to miss any of it. Join me in some engaging cricket discussion by tweeting your thoughts to Shirsh9
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