(CMC) – The West Indies will be hoping to get their bowling right and bring a rousing finish to a series that started with great promise when they face reigning world champions England in the decisive fifth Twenty20 International today in Trinidad.
The Caribbean side were full of confidence after beating the English 2-1 in the preceding one-day international series and taking a 2-0 lead in the T20I series, but things have gone horribly awry for Rovman Powell and his side, and they have since slipped to chastening successive defeats, and the series is now level 2-2.
The West Indies have now moved from a position of comfort in the series to a must-win scenario, but Powell said it was not beyond his side to get the job done in the decider at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy (BLCA) if the bowling, which has been a letdown in the past two matches, hit the mark.
“A lot of emphasis must be placed on our bowling for us to win,” Powell told CWI Media on the eve of the match. “For the past two matches, we have not done well as a bowling group. This decision provides an opportunity for us to do that. We must bowl better. There are no two ways about it.”
In the past two matches, the West Indies bowling team has failed to contain the brutal batting of England, led by opener Phil Salt, after setting a target of 223 in the third ODI at the National Cricket Stadium in Grenada and being smashed for 267 in the fourth T20I at the BLCA.
On each occasion, Salt brutalised the attack and hit back-to-back hundreds, and he has forged a successful opening partnership with his captain, Jos Buttler, to renew England hopes of a strong defence to the world title next year in the Caribbean and the United States.
“We have bowling plans for England’s top six and top seven batters—the guys we think will hurt us and can hurt us, and Phil Salt is one of them,” Powell said. “He is someone we are looking to see how best we can dismiss him cheaply…
“But we have not been executing our bowling plans properly. We still think we have good plans against him and the rest of their batting, but the execution is where we are falling down.” With fast bowling spearhead Alzarri Joseph being rested for the last two matches of the series with the forthcoming Tour of Australia in mind, the West Indies pace attack struggled in his absence.
Oshane Thomas was his replacement in the 14-member squad, but he did not play in the fourth T20I and may be included in the decider with newcomer Matthew Forde conceding 54 in his three overs.
There may also be a temptation to include Roston Chase to bring a bit of variety to the spin bowling attack, with Gudakesh Motie and Akeal Hosein both twirling their left-arm spin with little effect in the past two matches, and for his ability to extend the depth of the batting.
The real problem for the home team has been the inability of the pacers to use the yorker effectively against the freewheeling England batsmen, and this has cost them dearly in the past two matches.
“It has been a concern for us, but our execution has not been up to par,” Powell said. “As much as the pitches are good, there are not 260 pitches. That gives us an opportunity; once we execute properly, then we should be OK.
“A lot of variations are needed on pitches that are very good; you must have proper variations to your bowling, and your skill sets come into play, such as the yorker—attacking yorkers and wide yorkers—which is the best option to go with.
“When the pitches are as good as they have been in this series, you want to use as small a portion of them as possible.”
The batting does not appear to be too much of a liability now; after all, the series has yielded more than 100 sixes, the most in a bilateral series, and they posted over 200 in the third T20I and got close to that mark in the fourth T20I in two losing causes.
“As a batting group, we’ve just got to continue trying our best to put decent totals on the board, or whatever we have to chase, we have to try our best to run it down,” Powell said.
Nicholas Pooran and Powell have been the top scorers for the West Indies in the series with 139 and 124 runs, respectively. Opener Brandon King enjoyed a promising start to the series, but he has since gone off the boil, while all-rounder Andre Russell has hit a couple of half-centuries.
Left-hander Kyle Mayers and fellow Barbadian Shai Hope have not quite fired, but Powell said the home team will try to resist the temptation of messing with the batting too much and perhaps bring in Johnson Charles to replace one of them because it appeared to be on solid ground.
“The batting has been doing well, and you do not want to tinker with the batting too much because Johnson has come into the squad,” he said.
“Our main focus is to try to get the bowling right, and if we get the bowling right (on Thursday), we will be successful.”
Squads:
WEST INDIES (from): Rovman Powell (captain), Shai Hope (vice-captain), Johnson Charles, Roston Chase, Matthew Forde, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Gudakesh Motie, Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, and Oshane Thomas.
England (from): Jos Buttler (captain), Rehan Ahmed, Moeen Ali, Gus Atkinson, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Liam Livingstone, Tymal Mills, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Josh Tongue, Reece Topley, John Turner, and Chris Woakes.