Trailing by 2-1, England will take on the West Indies in the fourth T20 International of the series at Kensington Oval on January 29.
England’s white ball tour of the West Indies hasn’t gone to plan so far, with the team trailing a five-match T20I series by 2-1 with two matches to go. Playing without their skipper Eoin Morgan, who is sidelined due to an injury, they will be looking to stay alive in the series when they take on the hosts on Saturday in the fourth T20I at Kensington Oval.
The third match of the series saw the Windies come out on top by 20 runs and take the crucial lead. The match was a complete run fest with over 420 runs scored between the two teams. Batting first, the hosts posted 224/5 on the board, courtesy of Rovman Powell’s magnificent 107 off 53 and Nicholas Pooran’s 70 off 43 balls.
England threatened to chase down the target with Tom Banton blasting 73 off 39 and Phil Salt scoring 57 off 24 down the order on debut. Eventually, they fell short by 20 runs, but they did go down with a fight.
Earlier in the series, the hosts won the first game by nine wickets after skittling out England for just 103. The visitors bounced back in the second game, winning narrowly by one run after posting 171 runs on the board. England will be looking to level the series by winning the fourth game. while the Windies will have their eyes set on sealing the series.
Key players
Jason Roy is one of the most destructive white ball batters in world cricket, and his recent improvement against spin has made him even more dangerous. The English opener has amassed 6912 runs at an average of 28 while striking at 143, including four hundreds and 46 fifties.
Roy was excellent in the second T20I, scoring 45 off 31 balls. England will be hoping Roy comes good in this crucial contest.
Nicholas Pooran is amongst the most promising middle order batters in T20 cricket. His ability to take on spin is widely rated, and despite his weaknesses against hard lengths, he has done well. Pooran has scored 4067 runs in the format at an average of 25 and a strike rate of 143.
The left-hander has one century and 20 half centuries to his name. Pooran is coming fresh off a terrific 43-ball 70 and remains a key player in this clash.
Adil Rashid, an often underrated spinner in T20 cricket, has done extremely well for England over the years. The leg-break bowler has taken 245 wickets in the shorter format at an economy of 7.40, with best figures of 4/2.
Rashid has enjoyed a lot of success against the Windies, having picked 19 wickets from 11 matches at an exceptional 5.70 rpo. In the ongoing series, he has returned with 1/21, 2/24 and 1/25 from his full quota of overs. He will once again be a key player for England in this game.
Romario Shepherd, a promising bowling all-rounder, has quickly become an important part of the Windies T20 set-up. He has the ability to nail yorkers and has variations up his sleeve. Shepherd can also tonk the ball hard down the order as he has already displayed in the second game, blasting 44* off 28. He has claimed 52 wickets from 37 innings in T20 cricket at 8.78 rpo.
Shepherd has been expensive in the series but has picked five wickets and offers dual value, making him a key player.
Prediction
The West Indies have enjoyed the upper hand over England in the T20 format, historically, having won 13 out of 22 matches. In the last five clashes, however, England have won three while the Windies have claimed two victories.
West Indies have an immense batting depth with the likes of Powell, Pollard, Romario Shepherd and Akeal Hosein down the order. Nicholas Pooran’s promotion to no. 3 seems to have been working for the team. The bowling unit has a couple of decent new ball bowlers in Jason Holder and Sheldon Cottrell, but there are holes in the attack.
England, who were without several first-choice players, missed Liam Livingstone in the first two games and will now be without their skipper. England still have a very good batting unit with Roy, Ali, Livingstone and young guns Banton, Salt stepping up. Their bowling has been a serious issue with all of them, barring Adil Rashid getting belted around.
England will still head into this game as favourites but not by much, and as the series has already shown, West Indies are more than a match for this England side.
