West Indies won the toss and chose to bowl first against England
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West Indies won the toss and elected to bowl first in the first ODI of the three-match series against England in Antigua.
Rain delayed the toss by 30 minutes – with a damp patch on the bowler’s run-ups causing an extra concern – and perhaps convinced Jason Holder, West Indies captain, that the pitch will contain a little extra life in the opening overs of the morning.
But while the delay did not, initially, result in any loss of overs, not sooner had the toss been taken than heavy rain started to fall and the covers were brought on.
With only eight ODIs to play before their ICC Champions Trophy campaign begins, this series provides England with an opportunity to fine-tune their preparations and test their bench strength. Several first-choice seam bowlers – notably David Willey and Mark Wood – are absent through injury, so there is a first ODI cap since September 2015 for Steven Finn, while Sam Billings has a chance to establish himself at the top of the order in the continued absence of Alex Hales.
West Indies, meanwhile, require victories if they are to achieve automatic qualification for the World Cup. Currently ranked ninth, they must break into the top eight by the end of September to avoid the prospect of play-offs, having already missed out on qualification for June’s Champions Trophy.
West Indies preferred Jason Mohammed to Rovman Powell in the middle order, while there was no place for the pace of Alzarri Jospeh in a side containing two specialist spinners.
West Indies 1 Evin Lewis, 2 Kraigg Brathwaite, 3 Kieran Powell, 4 Shai Hope (wk), 5 Jason Mohammed, 6 Jonathan Carter, 7 Jason Holder (capt) 8 Carlos Brathwaite, 9 Ashley Nurse, 10 Devendra Bishoo, 11 Shannon Gabriel.
England 1 Jason Roy, 2 Sam Billings, 3 Joe Root, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Jos Buttler (wk), 6 Ben Stokes, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Liam Plunkett, 11 Steven Finn.
George Dobell is a senior correspondent at ESPNcricinfo. He will be covering England’s tour of the Caribbean in association with Smile Group Travel, specialists in hosted supporters’ packages.
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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