West Indies have been the easiest opponent for England in the past few years, but on Friday when the two teams face each other in the World Cup match, then the Eoin Morgan-led side would want to avoid any kind of slackness because the Caribbean team can change the match in a few moments of time.
England got a chance to look inside themselves after losing to Pakistan and they won a big win in every division against Bangladesh. From the other side, the West Indies easily defeated Pakistan, but despite being in a better position against Australia, they got defeated.
Their match against South Africa had vanished due to rain and had to share the points. This match can also affect the weather and the number of overs can be reduced. Initially there is a possibility of being cloudy, which will help the fast bowlers. In such a situation, any team would like to field first.
The West Indies now face England from which they have not been performing well for the last few years. The 101 ODIs played between these two teams England have won 51 times while West Indies 44 times, but in 19 matches played in the last 10 years, the Caribbean team has won only three. England have won 14 out of these matches and they will try to retain their dominance.
The strong side of England is their batting. Their top seven batsmen have the ability to change the dice of the match on their own. Jason Roy declared his form by making 153 in the last match. Johnny Bairstow and Jos Buttler scored half centuries. Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer showed the best in bowling Given the highness of left-handed batsmen with the West Indies, Moin Ali can replace the fast bowler Liam Plunkett in the last eleven.
For Archer, this match will be important as he is originally associated with the West Indies and he had the right to play from England this year. An interesting battle can be seen between Chris Gayle and Archer. It would be interesting to see how Archer stops the left-hand batsman Chris Gayle and power-hitter Andre Russell and Shai Hope.
Concern of the West Indies is about the batting. Their bowlers did well against Australia but the batsmen could not show the required game. Apart from Hope, Captain Jason Holder also made the fifties but the team lost by 15 runs. If the West Indies are to challenge England, then batsmen like Gayle, Shimron Hetmayer and Nicholas Puran will also have to perform well.