England set for West Indies series after Ashes and T20 World Cup disappointment

2 years ago 23

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England walk off after their semi-final defeat by New Zealand in the T20 World Cup in 2021

Venue: Kensington Oval, Bridgetown Dates: 22/23/26/29/30 January Time: 20:00 GMT
Coverage: Live text commentary, reports and analysis on the BBC Sport website

England's 4-0 Ashes defeat may have only ended on Sunday morning, but they are already back in action from Saturday evening.

Their white-ball team are set to play a five-match Twenty20 series against West Indies in Barbados and will be looking to put smiles back on faces after a difficult winter.

England will be without their Ashes players, giving others the opportunity to impress with another T20 World Cup taking place in October and November in Australia.

Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood are all unavailable having played in Australia, while Sam and Tom Curran are both missing through injury.

England are still without Jofra Archer, although the 26-year-old has travelled over to Barbados to continue his rehabilitation from elbow surgery.

England, who are ranked number one in the world in T20 cricket, do have opener Jason Roy and left-arm quick Tymal Mills available again, after both sustained injuries in October and November's T20 World Cup, where England were eliminated by New Zealand in the semi-finals.

There are four players who have yet to play T20 cricket for England in the 17-man squad: Yorkshire batter Harry Brook, Sussex all-rounder George Garton, Gloucestershire left-armer David Payne and Lancashire opener Phil Salt, though he has appeared in three one-day internationals.

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All could feature at some stage, while Somerset opener Tom Banton, Hampshire captain James Vince and Lancashire's Saqib Mahmood are likely to play throughout and be given the opportunity to press their claims for a more regular spot.

Sam Billings, who made his Test debut in the final Ashes Test, has joined up with the squad as planned, after flights to Sydney, Los Angeles and Miami.

England will be coached by Paul Collingwood, who captained England in their 2010 T20 World Cup success in West Indies, with Marcus Trescothick, Anthony McGrath, Alan Richardson and Paul Tweddle assisting him.

They have played one warm-up game against BCA President's XI, winning by 94 runs, after Roy hit 115 from 47 balls in England's 231-4. Mills was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3-25.

West Indies are currently ranked 10th in the world, but were disappointing in last year's World Cup, winning only one group game in their defence of the title.

They are now in a period of transition with all-rounder Dwayne Bravo retiring after that tournament, Chris Gayle having all-but retired while bowler Ravi Rampaul, all-rounder Andre Russell and Lendl Simmons have all been left out.

Middle-order batter Shimron Hetmyer is also absent having failed his start-of-season fitness test, while Evin Lewis was not considered for selection having tested positive for Covid-19.

Batters Shai Hope, Brandon King, Kyle Mayers and Rovan Powell have been included, alongside bowlers Odean Smith, Romario Shephard, Sheldon Cottrell and Dominic Drakes.

It is a relatively inexperienced Windies squad, but there no uncapped players in their 16-player squad.

Windies skipper Kieron Pollard said: "In all three facets we're basically starting from ground zero and we've got to do what is needed at this moment in time.

"At times we tend to falter when the pressure is on. We've tried to plan as well as we can to overcome what has been plaguing us, but it won't happen overnight."

The two sides will play a five-match bilateral series for the first time, with England winning a three-game series 3-0 on their last tour of West Indies in March 2019.

England beat West Indies by six wickets in their opening game of last year's World Cup, having bowled them out for just 55.

Three Tests follow the T20 series, beginning in Antigua on 8 March.

What are the squads?

West Indies: Kieron Pollard (captain), Nicholas Pooran (vice captain), Fabian Allen, Darren Bravo, Roston Chase, Sheldon Cottrell, Dominic Drakes, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Jason Holder, Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Rovman Powell, Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith, Hayden Walsh Jr. Reserves: Jayden Seales, Alzarri Joseph, Devon Thomas.

England: Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Harry Brook, Liam Dawson, George Garton, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Saqib Mahmood, Tymal Mills, David Payne, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, James Vince.