Eoin Morgan will be optimistic of a fine performance from his bowlers, who are well capable of a fantastic performance even against a strong opposition like West Indies.
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England skipper Eoin Morgan has opted to field after winning the toss in the second match of the Super 12 stage of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup. Morgan’s men are taking on West Indies who are led by Kieron Pollard. The latter will be enjoying the services of all-rounder Andre Russell who is back in action, having missed quite a few matches in the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021. Russell will be eager to go out and lead West Indies on to a triumph. The all-rounder can be a game-changer on his day and is certainly a fine addition to the Windies setup.
Morgan expressed his excitement going into the encounter, highlighting the presence of a short side as a vital factor behind this decision.
“We will bowl first. Short side one side. And we can guard ourselves a bit with that dew factor. Missing out are Billings, Willey, Curran, Wood… Wood and Curran needed a bit more time to recover after the injuries in the warm-up games. Tymal Mills is playing. He was excellent for us before. We get balance with Liam and Moeen, so gives us three seamers and three spinners. Obviously missing those all-rounders who aren’t here hurt us. We are excited about the start of our campaign tonight,” he stated as quoted by Cricbuzz.
Pollard stated that he would have opted to field as well.
“Not really a blow. Toss is 50-50. We would have bowled. Russell is fit. First World Cup for Pooran, McCoy. With the combination of our team we do not depend on Russell bowling 4 overs every game. Chris Gayle, legend for us. Looking forward to what we can do as a team more than individuals,” said the all-rounder.
Lineups:
West Indies (Playing XI): Evin Lewis, Lendl Simmons, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran(w), Kieron Pollard(c), Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo, Akeal Hosein, Obed McCoy, Ravi Rampaul.
England (Playing XI): Jos Buttler(w), Jason Roy, Dawid Malan, Eoin Morgan(c), Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Tymal Mills.
Australia are off to a victorious start in the Super 12 stage following a triumph against South Africa, with skipper Aaron Finch expressing his happiness following the win.
“The dugout was probably a bit more relaxed than I was. Anytime it comes down to the wire but Stoinis and Wade kept their cool there. It’s what experience can do. Maxwell did a really good job. We felt there were good match-ups for him in the powerplay, and then Miller came in and they couldn’t go hard, they were in a bit of a holding pattern [so it worked out]. Ideally I would have been able to push him for a third in the powerplay (Hazlewood), he’s a world class bowler in any form of the game. People say that’s easy in this format but when you get it right on a pitch with variation, it can get tough,” said Finch.
“There’s never been any issue for us – we know people need to rest and I think for the longevity of Australian cricket it’s a great thing. Nice to get the experienced guys back because it counts in a World Cup. South Africa as good a fielding team as you get, in a big ground you think you can exploit [but they gave nothing away]. In the end we needed a bit of luck to go our way and we got it,” he added.
