Nottingham: England take on West Indies, riding on the confidence gained from their last match 106-run victory over Bangladesh. After England’s shock defeat to Pakistan, they have planned meticulously to go for a victory provided the match is not hit by rain at the Hampshire Bowl in Southampton.
The forecast is that it would be cloudy at the start of the day but there are chances of rain by afternoon. England skipper Eoin Morgan is confident that rain will not affect matches in the coming days and this team’s chances of reaching the semi-final will not be affected by it. “I don’t think the rain will be the reason we don’t make the semi-finals. I think today’s probably the last of the significant rain for the next few days. I know the last three days I think haven’t been great for sides trying to get games in. But at some stage during the tournament we will be hit by a small bit of rain. It’s great that it’s not too much and, hopefully, it doesn’t impact one team more than twice.”
West Indies skipper Jason Holder isn’t happy with the situation as he feels his team could not even train properly. “It is a little disappointing obviously not being able to play. Today was our last day to practice and as you can see with the weather we are not able to get outside.”
Holder does not want a second wash out at all cost. “It’s a very important game for us. Every game in this World Cup is very important, but having a washed-out game in the last encounter against South Africa, we are just looking forward to getting on the park and, hopefully, the weather stays away and we can get a good game.”
Morgan has huge respect for the West Indies team and said: “They (West Indies) are a strong outfit. We expect the exact same tomorrow. They are explosive with the bat. And a different challenge with the ball. A lot of their seamers are quite tall and look to hit the wicket and obviously the majority of the time they only play one spinner, so that is going to be the challenge here.”
So when Holder was asked what is the radical change that has come into the team that is earning them respect, he said: “We have always got wickets with the new ball. But previously we haven’t been able to get wickets in the middle overs. And it’s been talking point over the last couple of months in one-day cricket and now in this tournament we have been able to get wickets in the middle overs, which has definitely broken the back of most teams.”
Catch the match
England vs West Indies
Start: 1.30pm UAE
Venue: Rose Bowl, Southampton
Live telecast on OSN Sports
