West Indies look to seal the series with consecutive wins

Overview

West Indies vs England, 4th T20I
Kensington Oval, Barbados
January 29, 4:00 PM local

With three matches played out of the five T20Is between England and West Indies, the hosts have an upper hand with a 2-1 lead in the five-match series. West Indies have outplayed England in almost all three matches apart from the second T20I where England won the match by only one run.

With the absence of some big names in the England squad, the team has struggled to find the right balance. And now the England captain too has been ruled out of the remaining two T20Is with a low-grade quadriceps injury. Although Morgan hasn't been in good form in the first two matches he played, a regular captain’s presence in the team is always an advantage for a touring side.

The fourth T20I will be a perfect opportunity for West Indies to seal the series. The hosts will expect more from the two openers, especially Shai Hope who hasn't been able to score big in any of the matches. The middle-order looks pretty solid with Pooran back in form and Rovman Powell’s addition, who got a 51-ball century in the third T20I.

The in-form West Indies middle-order gives a cushion to the top-order batters to play freely. The bowling department has successfully done its job in almost all the matches and will look to continue their form heading into the final two ODIs.

Remember the last time

After winning the toss, West Indies were put in to bat first by England skipper Moeen Ali. The plan did seem to work for England when they got cheap wickets of openers Brandon King and Shai Hope, but West Indies middle-order batsmen had already made their mind to attack England bowlers. Pooran straightaway started dealing with sixes followed by Powell’s brilliant batting display that saw his score a stunning century. West Indies dominating batting display in the first innings helped them put a strong total of 224-5 on the board.

West Indies' party would have been spoiled had they not taken the wicket of Tom Banton. None of the West Indies bowlers had answers to Banton’s clean hitting. From the start of the innings, Banton looked in great touch as he took the to Akeal Hosein in his first over and didn't let him settle. Debutant Phil Salt’s too was in cracking touch. His brilliant half-century towards the end of the innings was the only resistance from the England batters as the visitors fell short by 20 runs.

What they said

Kieron Pollard (West Indies captain): "The challenge for us is to replicate this performance in the next game, the good thing is we can celebrate this win for a longer time. England are making changes, so we will have to come back and do exactly the same thing on Saturday.”

Moeen Ali (Stand-in England captain): “I’m not sure that too many all-rounders captain in T20 cricket, but I feel like I’ve always been ready to captain teams. Wednesday happened just before the toss, there were five changes and it just felt there was a lot going on. I didn’t feel like I had time to prepare and think about it too much, which sometimes can help. Hopefully going forward it’ll be a little bit easier and calmer.”