England vs West Indies – 2nd ODI – Match Preview
England and West Indies will be up against each other today in the second of the three-match One Day International series (ODI). The home team is currently leading by 1-0 and would love to wrap up the competition by winning today’s fixture.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760, on the other hand, are considered to be stronger in the shorter formats of the game and started this series as favourites; however, Darren Sammy’s men proved to be no match for England in the Test series.
The visitors have their reputation at stake and they have no option but to keep the series alive and prove to the cricketing fraternity that the Caribbean team is a force to reckon with, at least in limited-overs cricket.
The good news for West Indies is that former captain, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/CH-Gayle-c1221, has recovered from his shin injury and has declared himself fit to play the Oval ODI. The left-hander’s inclusion is going to bolster the Caribbean batting, which is already very strong on
paper but failed to deliver in the first match.
The 32-year-old is returning to international sport after 15 months and has a point to prove to the authorities back home. One expects the great batsman to be fired up and play a massive knock, which will loudly announce his return at the ultimate stage
of the game.
There are a number of match-winners in the West Indian team but some of the critics are raising question marks about the balance. They believe that the visitors should not rely too much on the all-rounders and at least three genuine bowlers should be included
in the playing-eleven. If Sammy and company decide to experiment with the combination, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Andre-Dwayne-Russell-c44235 may have to make way for a specialist bowler.
One bad news for the visitors is the injury to the young left-handed batsman, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/DM-Bravo-c1386, who damaged his groin in the first match and could not bat on his regular spot. The stylish batsman made a hundred in the practice game before the series and looked
in a great shape; however, West Indies have a strong bench-strength on this tour and should not worry too much.
West Indies (expected playing-11) 1 Chris Gayle, 2 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sunil-Philip-Narine-c91869
On the other side of the coin, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/United-Arab-Emirates-c3033 (UAE) earlier this year and the retirement
of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/KP-Pietersen-c1806 does not seem to have hurt them a lot.
Ian Bell, who made a comeback to the team in the first match, smashed a brilliant hundred at Southampton and made it clear that he is here to stay in the limited-overs internationals as well.
England’s real strength is their quality bowling attack, which includes five world-class bowlers. It automatically means that http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AN-Cook-c1026 does not have to worry about the part-timers as there is no weak link in his attack.
England (expected playing-11) 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ST-Finn-c2566.
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