The current crop of England players led by Eoin Morgan is a brilliant limited overs side, and they have all their bases covered. These English players will be keen to prove their class against West Indies when the two teams square it up in the upcoming three-match ODI series, with the first game starting on Friday in Antigua.
Read: World Cricket schedule 2017
West Indies, at home, and with players like Evin Lewis, Jason Holder, who is their skipper, Devendra Bishoo, Carlos Brathwaite and Jonathan Carter can be a strong team. They need to be consistent in the ODI format. West Indies are missing the services of their superstars, including Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels.
However, they cannot afford to think about the missing players, and need to concentrate on the upcoming ODI series, and especially the first ODI, where they will have to give their best by playing quality cricket. West Indies will be eager to prove some important things in world cricket after failing to qualify for the ICC Champions Trophy 2017.
With a brilliant performance against England, West Indies, who are ranked ninth in the ICC ODI rankings currently, can show that they are still a strong side in world cricket. But England will be a major obstacle for West Indies.
England might have lost the ODI series against India, who were tested by the Three Lions in the limited overs format. The team has plenty of world-class players, and with cricketers like Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler, they have many match-winners in their side.
It would not be wrong to say that England are one of the best ODI sides with a balanced unit. Bowlers like Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid and Steven Finn strengthen their bowling, but it goes without saying that their major forte lies in batting. Despite some injuries, they have a solid team in the West Indies.
"We're spoiled for choice in the batting. But the injuries have started testing our strength in our bowling. We've been a bit unlucky with injuries to the bowlers. We have a good crop of guys. We've always said we've 16 or 17 people who can play. We're stretching the limits of that at the moment, but our batting's certainly in the right space," ESPN Cricinfo quoted Morgan as saying.
Where to watch live
West Indies vs England 1st ODI is scheduled for 9:30 am local time start, 7 pm IST, 1:30 pm GMT start. Here are the TV and live streaming options.
India: TV: Ten 3 and Ten 1 HD.
UK: TV: Sky Sports 2/HD. Live Streaming: Watch Sky Sports.
South Africa: TV: SuperSport 7. Live Streaming: SuperSport live video.
Australia: TV: Fox Sports 1. Live Streaming: Foxtel.
USA: TV: Willow TV. Live Streaming: Willow TV Online.
