England need to win to stay alive
England were hoping that rain would save them from a loss in the opening game but an inexperienced English side were blown away by Evin Lewis in a shortened game and now the visitors have to keep themselves alive in the three match ODI series and desperately need a win to keep the series afloat as well.
Ahead of the second ODI, here’s our match preview and predictions.
West Indies vs England 2nd ODI | England tour of West Indies 2024 | 19:00 IST, November 2
All of the top six of the English batters got starts but none of them managed to convert it with stand-in captain Liam Livingstone’s 48 being the highest score in another wise disappointing batting effort from the visitors. Sam Curran showed resilience with the bat as England looked like they were rebuilding at 165-4 before a late collapse knocked them out for 209. The likes of Phil Salt, Will Jacks and Jacob Bethell will know that given the starts they got, they should have done better and will be looking to get some runs under their belt. The bowling unit was another let down for the English team, as barring Jofra Archer, who was economical with the new ball up front, everyone else felt the wrath of Brandon King and Evin Lewis, with the latter taking the game away from the visitors.
Although rain interrupted the game for a while, chasing a total of 157 from 35 overs wasn’t an uphill task and the game was certainly over when Evin Lewis and Brandon King gave the hosts a 118/0 in 19 overs’ start. Lewis continued to tear apart the English bowlers, missing out on a well deserved century by 6 runs but it helped the Windies ease to an eight-wicket win. With the ball, it was a well-oiled team effort from Hope’s boys Gudakesh Motie, spinning a web around the English batters, with a four-for while Jayden Seales,and Matthew Forde made the early inroads before Alzarri Joseph wrapped up the innings.
In Antigua again, expect the bowlers to reign on a sluggish pitch with the hosts favourite to seal a series win.
Fantasy XI: Phil Salt, Shai Hope, Evin Lewis, Shimron Hetmyer, Liam Livingstone, Roston Chase, Sam Curran, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Alzarri Joseph, Gudakesh Motie
Venue: North Sound
Winners Prediction: West Indies
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