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WI vs ENG 2024/25, WI vs ENG 1st ODI Match Preview

Posted on by Kennedy
WI vs ENG 2024/25, WI vs ENG 1st ODI Match Preview

Big picture: Don't adjust your time zones

Are you keeping up? England's Test team have just returned home from Pakistan and are licking their wounds after a 2-1 series defeat but are already making plans for their next three-Test tour of New Zealand in just under three weeks. And now, to fill the idle time between these two significant ventures, a separate England team has been sent to the Caribbean for their fourth visit in three years to continue the restart of their white team defenses after two disappointing World Cup tournaments.

This is the sweet spot for England's post-coronavirus fixture log – a series so close it's hard to know what to read from the players selected or the expected results. As Jason Holder told ESPNcricinfo, clearing the ECB's debt to the West Indies after his team's efforts in the lockdown summer of 2020 is a key factor in the timing of this tour and therefore there is a transactional aspect to the coming eight games, which cannot be ignored. The financial incentives in the Caribbean could be more important than actual results, with the hosts not even having a place in February's Champions Trophy to provide a short-term focus for their efforts.

However, for England this is a unique opportunity for the next generation to lay claim to an integral role in the upcoming Bazball verification of the white ball team. Brendon McCullum won't feature until the tour of India in January, but his influence is already being felt. The cross-pollination of players – Jordan Cox and Rehan Ahmed are coming from the Pakistan tour and Jacob Bethell will soon take the opposite route to New Zealand – reinforces the feeling that one philosophy will prevail across all three teams, and it has probably doesn't matter where or how you make your case…Big Bazzer will be watching you.

And so, at least in the short term, coherent strategies are likely to be less important than well-crafted cameos. With Jos Buttler extending his absence from professional cricket to a fifth month and Harry Brook – his heir apparent – busy on Test duty, Liam Livingstone is given an unlikely chance at the captaincy, just weeks after he was initially left out of England's ODI plans against Australia. He takes charge of a side consisting of five potential 50-over debutants, from the restlessly ambitious Cox to the fast legspinner Jafer Chohan to the ubiquitous John Turner, the Hampshire fast bowler who has been featured in reports for more than 10 years over a year, but could finally get its opening in the coming games.

More established names should also take advantage of this opportunity. Sam Curran, for example, wondered aloud last month whether his face suited the Bazball era, with his lack of extreme speed and height at odds with the traits England's selectors have espoused of late. The fact that he was overlooked as Buttler's deputy could also confirm his paranoia. But he was man of the match in his last ODI in Antigua and that will certainly count for something.

Phil Salt is another who could be grateful for the absence of the multi-format players. The Caribbean was the scene of his breakthrough as a T20I opener, with two hundreds on England's last visit, but in the 50-over format he failed to get out of the powerplay in any of the five games against Australia, even when it was his own 45 by 27 in Bristol last month was a loud way to say goodbye for the summer.

They face a West Indies team who have a proud home record against England. In addition to their two-decade unbeaten streak in Tests, they have won each of their last three white-ball home series against the visitors, including a 2-1 win in the corresponding ODI season in December 2023.

With the clever left arm of Gudakesh Motie and the pace of Alzarri Joseph and Jayden Seales, the West Indies have always found the firepower needed to thwart England's batsmen and have rarely lacked muscle with the bat itself There is likely to be some fast-paced cricket in front of the eager crowds of autumnal English sunbathers in the next few days. But the jury will still be out on what all this will prove, at least until the new year.

Form Guide

West Indies WLLLL (last five tests, most recent first)
England LWWLL

In the spotlight – Evin Lewis and Liam Livingstone

England fans may remember Evin Lewis from his astonishing attack at the Kia Oval in 2017, right at the height of England's white-ball revolution. On a chilly autumn afternoon, he scored a remarkable 176 in 130 balls with 17 fours and seven sixes and was firmly on his way to West Indies' second ODI double hundred when he inside-edged an yorker onto his ankle and retired injured with a hairline crack. That was the third of his five ODI hundreds to date – a tally only Shai Hope can beat among today's West Indies cricketers – and the last came just last week against Sri Lanka in Kandy: a 61-ball attack, sealed with one win six. Remarkably, this was Lewis' first ODI appearance in more than three years, but as his captain Hope put it in the post-match presentations: “He picked up where he left off.”

It has barely been six weeks since Liam Livingstone was called up as an injury replacement for Jos Buttler after his calf injury ruled him out of the ODI series against Australia. Now he has been given an even more notable promotion – stepping straight into the captaincy role as England's sixth captain in 2024. He returns at the peak of a relative wave, having recently become the leading T20I all-rounder in the ICC rankings . But his return in ODI cricket remains a stroke of luck. His impressive 62 not out in 27 balls against Australia at Lord's included an impressive seven sixes, but was also his first half-century in 14 innings since another dramatic outing, 95 not out in 78 balls, against New Zealand in September 2023. In between during he (to be fair, along with most of his teammates) was missed from the 50-over World Cup in India. However, his versatile spin bowling remains an important tool in balancing England's XIs and a strong performance in this series will put him on the path to a chance at redemption in the Champions Trophy.

Team news: England debuts on the cards

The return of Shimron Hetmyer is the West Indies' only change from the ODI squad that played (and won) the last of its three games against Sri Lanka on Saturday, and so continuity seems to be the order of the day. He is likely to slot into the middle order, with 17-year-old Jewel Andrew, who made his international debut in this Kandy competition, the obvious batsman to make way. There is enough time for him to come back. Romario Shepherd could also return after sitting out the same game.

West Indies: 1 Brandon King, 2 Evin Lewis, 3 Shai Hope (Capt and WK), 4 Sherfane Rutherford, 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Keacy Carty, 7 Alzarri Joseph, 8 Roston Chase, 9 Gudakesh Motie, 10 Romario Shepherd, 11 Jayden Seales

The pressure on this series, from Test tours of Pakistan on one side and New Zealand on the other, means a number of multi-format players will be missing in the coming days, including Brook and Ben Duckett, whose century against Australia in Bristol came in a perfect translation of his bazball pace from five days to 50 overs. Cox, fresh from the Pakistan tour, will be one of several players earmarked for ODI debut in the coming days, while Buttler's absence means Michael Pepper, his injured replacement, could be another. Given the rough hierarchy that governs England's chances, it is perhaps more likely that Will Jacks will get the chance to lead the way and Dan Mousley – who was overlooked on his debut against Australia – will be given the first place in the middle order.

England: 1 Phil Salt (Week), 2 Will Jacks, 3 Jordan Cox, 4 Jacob Bethell, 5 Liam Livingstone (Capt), 6 Dan Mousley, 7 Sam Curran, 8 Jamie Overton, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Jofra Archer, 11 Reece Topley

Pitch and conditions: Think about the wind factor

A fairly central stripe means that the border dimensions are more or less uniform. With four visits to the Caribbean in three years, England's experienced players are well accustomed to the crosswinds that can make or break a batsman's attempts to free himself from the ropes. Conflicting rain reports can also cause some chaos.

Statistics and interesting facts

  • West Indies have won seven of their 18 ODIs at the Sir Vivian Richards Ground in Antigua so far, five of them in their last six appearances since 2017.

  • Evin Lewis needs 51 runs to reach 2000 in ODIs.

    • Quotes

    “You will see that as the series progresses, there will be some debuts. And there will be people who get a chance because we want to see what we can do. Because that's what we want to get out of it. “This trip is about seeing how they do in international cricket.” Promoting young talent is a priority for the ODI deputy captain Liam Livingstone

    Andrew Miller is the UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket

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