The statistics are heavily stacked against them, the support will be heavily on the side of the home team and the conditions will favour them as well but the West Indies will not be backing down from the challenge of facing tournament favourites England today in their crucial ICC World Cup clash at the Rose Bowl in Southampton, England.
Skipper Jason Holder yesterday sent a clear message to the English that despite all the odds his team will be coming out strong looking to defeat them in their own backyard.
West Indies enter the match with a 1-1-1 record. They had a huge seven-wicket win against Pakistan, lost a close 15-run contest to Australia and had the third match against South Africa rained out.
In World Cup play, the West Indies has lost their last five matches played against England. Out of six contests overall, they have also prevailed once and that was in the final of the 1979 tournament.
England has won the 11 of the last 13 ODI matches against the West Indies but significantly, those two wins came earlier this year in the Caribbean.
Yesterday, Holder was notably pleased with the bowling aspect of the team's play.
“We have gone really well with the ball so far, in taking new ball wickets and bowling two teams out in the games we have played," he said.
"In terms of our fielding, we could definitely touch up there but I think generally over the last couple of months, if you look at our fielding overall, we have improved a lot in this World Cup so far. As a batting unit, we just had a plan against Australia so if we get ourselves back into that situation, we just need to take a little bit more responsibility and take the game home."
However, he said the team was playing better cricket and were ready for the challenge.
“I think the brand of cricket we have been playing so far in this World Cup, you know what to expect of West Indies now, we are not going to back down from the challenge. Most of our guys are always up for the challenge and it is just a matter for us to be smart. And I don’t think there is anything else to be said, just be smart and play the brand of cricket we want to play."
The West Indies are likely to make a change by bringing back all-rounder Andre Russell, who did not play in the rained out encounter against South Africa.
Also of interest in the match will be the battle between the West Indies batsmen led by Chris Gayle against the Barbados-born former West Indies U-19 player Jofra Archer, who is now lining up for England.
Meanwhile, England has passed top batsman Jos Buttler fit for the game but the biggest concern for the fans and the players may be the fickle English weather which has washed out four games thus far in the tournament. Better weather is predicted for the majority of the period the game is scheduled to be played though.
Teams:
West Indies: Jason Holder (Captain), Chris Gayle (Vice Captain), Fabian Allen, Carlos Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell,
Shannon Gabriel, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Evin Lewis, Ashley Nurse, Nicholas Pooran, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell,
Oshane Thomas.
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.
ENGLAND VS WEST INDIES HEAD TO HEAD
. England has won 11 of their last 13 completed men’s ODIs against West Indies. However both West Indies’ victories in that run came when they met earlier this year.
• England has won their last five ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup matches against West Indies, this after losing their inaugural meeting in the tournament (1979 Final).
• After losing five successive men’s ODIs at the Hampshire Bowl between August 2012 and September 2015, England has won each of their last four matches there, including a 9-wicket victory against the Windies in September 2017.
• West Indies have lost two of their four men’s ODI matches at the Hampshire Bowl, both those defeats coming in tour matches against England (2012 & 2017); their two victories at the
venue both came at the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy, versus Bangladesh and Pakistan.
• England has played just one men’s ICC Tournament match at the Hampshire Bowl before, beating Sri Lanka by 49 runs (D/L) in the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy.
• Chris Gayle (1,596) needs 24 runs in this match to become the leading runscorer in men’s ODIs between England and West Indies, Viv Richards is currently top of this list with 1,619 runs.
• Chris Gayle has scored 1,015 ICC Cricket World Cup runs, more than any other player competing in the 2019 edition, those runs coming at an average of 37.6 and a strike rate of 93.4.
• Ashley Nurse’s (West Indies) next ODI wicket will be his 50th, he has a bowling average of 67.4 against England however, taking eight wickets from 85.5 overs bowled.
• Jos Buttler’s (England) highest ever ODI score in his 111 innings came against West Indies earlier in 2019, hitting 150 runs from 77 balls – a match in which a record 46 sixes were hit
(England 24, West Indies 22).
• England’s Mark Wood is three scalps away from reaching 50 ODI wickets, he took seven wickets in four innings against the West Indies earlier this year, including one of two career 4-wicket hauls
ODI RECORD
Team*Completed Matches* Won*Lost*Tied
England*95*51*44*0
West Indies*95*44*51*0
ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP RECORD
Team*Completed Matches*Won*Lost*Tied
England*6*5*1*0
West Indies*6*1*5*0