West Indies are hoping that familiarity breeds success when they face off against England in their first Super 8 match of the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground in Saint Lucia on Wednesday night.
Co-hosts West Indies will be brimming with confidence having cruised through the group stage with an unbeaten record and four wins – the latest a 104 run victory over Afghanistan on Monday night. Defending champions England, meantime, were on the brink of elimination but managed to sneak through to the Super 8 due to a better net run rate than Scotland in Group B.
Speaking during a pre-match media conference, West Indies captain Rovman Powell said his side is fully prepared to take on two-time champions England.
“They are the defending champions and they are a very good team. So, it’s for us now to just sit and find some plans and see how those plans can work against them.
“We play them [England] actually every year, so they know a lot about us, we know a lot about them. It’s just that when you’re playing the game on the day, whoever gets on top has to stay on top for as long as possible,” he said.
Powell added that his side was relishing the opportunity to start this stage of the tournament in Saint Lucia.
West Indies have played in 10 of the 21 T20Is at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground, winning six of them, including five of the last six. England have never lost any of their previous three T20Is at the ground, including five years ago when they beat the tournament co-hosts by four wickets.
“We always knew that Saint Lucia was going to be one of the better pitches to play matches on in the Caribbean because of our experience during CPL (Caribbean Premier League) and all the years of playing here,” Powell said.
“So, it’s good that we’re starting here, and we played one game on it (against Afghanistan) before the start of the Super 8s. We’re kind of a little bit accustomed to the boundaries and accustomed to the wicket. Hopefully, it would suit us a little bit more than the Englishmen.”
Team selection will be major on a pitch which seems to be conducive to high batting totals.
The West Indies made a few changes to their playing 11 versus Afghanistan, bringing in left-arm pacer Obed McCoy for the first time in the tournament and he picked up figures of 3-14 in three overs.
Powell said he’s relishing the selection headache.
Defending champions England playing at Kensington Oval. (ZM)
“It’s always good and encouraging when you give guys an opportunity and they take the opportunity because it makes for good competition within the squad. It’s for us as a selection panel – myself, the coach and the chairman – to actually sit down and try to find the best combination. It’s good that guys are putting themselves up and making it a little bit difficult to pick the team,” the skipper said.
Several fans around the region have called for opener Johnson Charles to be replaced at the top of the order after he failed to score on two occasions and has only totaled 87 runs in four matches.
However, Powell threw his full support behind the Saint Lucian batsman.
“I think a big part of my captaincy is giving guys opportunities and supporting them. Johnson Charles didn’t have particularly a good start to the World Cup but we always knew when he comes home, he’s going to feel at home, he’s going to feel his Saint Lucians behind him,” he said. (BT/CMC)
FULL SQUADS
WEST INDIES: Rovman Powell (captain), Alzarri Joseph, Johnson Charles, Roston Chase, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Shamar Joseph, Brandon King, Obed McCoy, Gudakesh Motie, Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd.
ENGLAND: Jos Buttler (captain), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Tom Hartley, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, Mark Wood.
