West Indies v England World T20 preview – Final

England, needless to say, has come a long way since that drubbing. The effortless ease with which it reeled in South Africa’s 229 two days after that loss to the West Indies, and its Jason Roy-orchestrated semifinal annihilation of form team New Zealand are ultimate confirmation, if it was needed, of England playing with the authority and positivity of a nation that gave the world this 20-over version.

Morgan attributed England’s revamped and refreshing philosophy to limited-overs cricket to a shift in mindset in the immediacy of the team's early elimination from the 50-over ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 in Australia. The first endeavour was to identify the right personnel, as much from a batting perspective as anything else. England is no longer the see-off-the-new-ball, gradually-build-an-innings unit. It comes out with a clear and firm message from the off – stray even slightly from the straight and narrow, and cop untold punishment.

The principal enforcers in this tournament have been Jason Roy, Joe Root, Jos Buttler and to a lesser extent Alex Hales, but there is greater firepower lurking in the ranks. Morgan himself has had a run as batsman that is as poor as his leadership has been inspirational, while Ben Stokes too is still lurking in the shadows, with established ball-strikers Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid shoring up the lower middle order. With such depth and ferocious hitting cogs, England is a deadly dangerous side, an exceptional front-runner that can decimate attacks from ball 1 to 120.

There is more to England than only its array of boundary-hitters who, unlike their opponents in the final, are also wonderful between the wickets. Chris Jordan has shored up the bowling quite beautifully, his control at the death exemplary and the difference between the side chasing 150 and 170. His changes of pace and control over the yorker have been nicely backed up by Stokes, David Willey and Liam Plunkett, while Moeen and Rashid, the offspin-legspin duo, have provided admirable spin back-up.

It was this same group – give or take one or two – that felt the full might of Gayle’s fury a fortnight ago at the Wankhede. The West Indies has insisted that there is more to its batting than Gayle; in Mumbai, it finally managed to convince the world. Gayle made only 5 in a chase of 193 against India, but Johnson Charles, last-minute replacement Lendl Simmons and Andre Russell more than made up for the big man’s failure. Gayle began the tournament with a flourish; who is to say the Universe Boss won’t end it thus as well?

For England, Sunday is a glorious opportunity to atone for the World Cup disaster of last year, and to seek vindication in its revamped approach to limited-overs cricket. For the West Indies, however, it is less to do with reasons cricketing and more about pride and respect. Motivations different, target the same. Will this Cup final break the norm and throw up a contest worthy of the occasion and the venue?

Teams (likely):

England: Jason Roy, Alex Hales, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (capt), Jos Buttler (wk), Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, David Willey, Adil Rashid, Liam Plunkett.

West Indies: Chris Gayle, Johnson Charles, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Bravo, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Andre Russell, Darren Sammy (capt), Carlos Brathwaite, Samuel Badree, Sulieman Benn.