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Hosts and favorites England will face the West Indies in Match 19 of the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup. The Englishmen are set to battle West Indies on June 14th at The Rose Bowl in Southampton.
England is 1-1 in the tournament after knocking off South Africa on opening day and losing to Pakistan in Match 6 of the tournament. The hosts take on Bangladesh in Match 12 on Saturday before facing the West Indies in this match. The West Indies are also 1-1 in the tournament as they defeated Pakistan in their tournament opener and lost to defending champions Australia in their second match. West Indies will face South Africa in Match 15 on June 10th before heading to this showdown with the tournament favorites England.
England
England has risen to the top of the cricket world, at least in this format. The English is the #1 ranked ODI team in the world and are also hosting this year’s Cricket World Cup. They have made the final three times in the past but have never hoisted the trophy. Their fans believe they have a legit chance of breaking that spell this year. However, the hosts need to bounce back after getting upset in their second match of the competition.
Here are the members of England’s World Cup team:
Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, James Vince
West Indies squad
West Indies won back to back World Cup titles in 1975 and 1979 and were finalists in 1983 but they have not returned to the final ever since and have made it to the semifinals just once since the first three installments of the Cricket World Cup. With Chris Gayle set to retire from international competition, they are hoping for one big run in this edition of the World Cup.
Here are the players of West Indies’ World Cup cricket team:
Jason Holder (capt), Fabian Allen, Carlos Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell, Shannon Gabriel, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Evin Lewis, Ashley Nurse, Nicolas Pooran, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Oshane Thomas
Who Wins?
The odds for this match haven’t been released yet as of this writing but I reckon that England is going to be the cricket betting favorites to beat the West Indie despite the fact that West Indies defeated Pakistan, who upset England earlier in the week.
The West Indies opened their World Cup bid strong. They gave up only three wickets and comfortably chased down the required total. It took only 13.4 overs for the West Indies to bat their way to their first win of the tournament. They bowled out their opponent for 104 in 21.4 overs and cake-walked to victory in Nottingham.
The retiring Chris Gayle scored 50 runs from 34 deliveries. Gayle had six 4s and three 6s as the West Indies’ batsmen made easy work of Pakistan. But while batting is their known strength, it was their bowlers who did the damage. Oshane Thomas finished at 4-27 while team captain Jason Holder took 3-42.
In their second match of the World Cup, the West Indies lost to Australia by 15 wickets. Fifties from Shai Hope and Jason Holder kept the West Indies in the game but they were undone by the vintage performance of Mithcell Starc and limited to 273/9.
Meanwhile, England suffered a setback in their previous game as they suffered a surprise defeat to Pakistan in Match 6 of the 2019 ICC World Cup. The English showed poor fielding and gave up too many runs against the Pakistanis. Eoin Morgan and Joe Root fielded under par and conceded runs while Jason Roy dropped a costly catch. Despite playing in a very tough environment, Jofra Archer and Mark Wood bowled well enough but they didn’t get the help that they needed. On the other hand, England’s batting was still outstanding even in defeat as Jos Butler and Joe Root both reached century scores which allowed England to come close to Pakistan’s total.
Despite the loss, I think England are still the favorites here and not one defeat is going to discourage them from moving forward. Given how good they have been in the last couple of years, I don’t see them getting rattled or affected by that defeat. We’ll see if I’m right as the hosts take on Bangladesh in Match 12 on Saturday. Unless proven otherwise, I don’t think there is a reason to doubt England here. Prediction: England
