Image Credit- Getty
And now for something wholly unrelated. or at the very
least a little diversion from three months straight of ODI cricket. England has
had enough of 2023, and even though the West Indies, who bit the dust during
the World Cup, are now more hungry for the 50-over format, it’s time to change
gears and bring out the T20 duds for five short-form thrashes that begin under
the Bridgetown lights on Tuesday.
These days, it’s hard to find an ICC event without one
as the series kicks off an unofficial countdown to the T20 World Cup, which
will take place in the USA and the Caribbean next year. The reigning champions
are England—where have we heard that one before? and are the only team to have
won the competition twice, along with West Indies. Both teams have returned
some of their best players; the West Indies, for example, called up Andre
Russell two years after he last played in a Twenty20 international; however,
England is still without several players from their 2022 championship team,
including Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Chris Jordan, and Mark Wood.
After two miserable T20 World Cup campaigns in the UAE
and Australia, where they were eliminated by Ireland in the first round of the
preliminary group, the hosts feel compelled to reaffirm their credentials in
the format that has always been the strongest in the West Indies. Six months
into his job as white-ball coach, Daren Sammy is already showing signs of
turning things around. After losing the 50-over qualification in June, they
have defeated India in Twenty20 internationals and are currently leading England
in One-Day Internationals.
Known for his unwavering leadership, Sammy brought
together the West Indies’ all-star T20 team for their World Cup victories in
2012 and 2016. It appears that he has been working behind the scenes once more
to make sure that players like Russell—as well as Jason Holder, Nicholas
Pooran, and Kyle Mayers, who all declined central contracts from CWI—are
involved before a home tournament.
Since most of their players play more T20 cricket than
any other format, England hasn’t exactly placed much value on bilateral
limited-overs competition. They haven’t done well in T20I matches this year,
losing 3-0 in Bangladesh and drawing 2-2 with New Zealand before the ODI World
Cup run-in. Nevertheless, they will probably feel that they have a solid
foundation from which to prepare. Their whole World Cup build-up will consist
of this series and Pakistan’s visit in May; in contrast, West Indies only have
a three-match series in Australia left after their Pakistan tour was
rescheduled for 2025. Over the course of the following ten days, we will see
the placement of each squad in Barbados, Grenada, and Trinidad.