In the second match of the day, defending champions England will take on West Indies in a Group 1 contest of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup. The tournament is in its business end and every team will know how important it is to get early points in the Super Eights.
Both England and West Indies will know that they will have to play much better than the way they played in the league matches if they want to be in the top four. England after a commanding performance over minnows Afghanistan played very badly against the Indians in their second match.
They suffered their worst ever defeat in terms of runs and Andy Flower will be worried the way Englishmen played spin.
All the batsmen looked out of their comfort zone against Indian spinners and surrendered pretty meekly.
West Indies on the other hand was a bit unlucky as both their matches were affected by rain. The team from Caribbean is the only team to have reached the Super Eights without winning a single match in the group stages. The loss against Australia by D\L method and the match against Ireland got abandoned.
Going into this match, West Indies looks much more balanced compared to England. West Indies have some of the biggest hitters in their side and the plus point for them is almost all of them can bowl as well.
England will be depending on their bowlers once again because their batting line-up is quite in-experienced.
Let’s have a look at some of the players who will be in the thick of action in today’s match:
West Indies:
Chris Gayle: Gayle started this tournament in wonderful manner. Against Australia he scored a half-century and looked in very good knick. He got his eyes in and then launched the attack hitting four mammoth sixes. Against Ireland, he did not get an opportunity to bat, but he was very impressive with the ball picking two wickets. England will have to get him out early if they want to restrict West Indies to an achievable score.
Marlon Samuels: Samuels has been in great form of late and he had a wonderful outing against the Aussies. Samuels is a very good player against spinners and can clear any boundary. He does take time to build his innings but can catch up very quickly once he is settled. He is also quite effective with his off-spinners and can bowl some really quick yorkers.
Sunil Narine: Narine has not been at his best and he will be looking to quickly get into his strides. Narine is a match winner and West Indies rely heavily on him. English batsmen do not fancy spinners and Narine will be well aware of that fact.
Fidel Edwards: He was a bit wayward against the Australians but was right on the money against the Irish. He can bowl some unplayable out swingers with the new ball and has the knack of picking earlywickets.
England:
Luke Wright: He was brilliant against the Afghans and scored a brilliant 99 not out. Against the Indians he misread the length and got out trying to play a pull shot. Wright is very experienced when it comes to playing in T20s and Broad will be hoping for him to come good once again.
Craig Kieswetter: The wicket-keeper batsmen can really launch an attack up-front. He likes ball coming on to the bat and doesn’t mind using his feet against the faster men. England will be hoping to get a good start from him.
Graeme Swann: He bowled brilliantly against Indians and against the players who can play spin brilliantly. Swann is ranked number two in the list of T20 bowlers and is the most successful bowler for England. He loves bowling to left-handers and his battle against Gayle will be great to watch.
Stuart Broad: England skipper will have to be at his best against the strong West Indian batting line-up. Broad is an intelligent bowler and can bowl really well in the death overs. He will lead the fast bowling pack.
By Indian Sports News Network