The State of Play
England’s white-ball misery continued in the 2nd T20I, the West Indies winning by 10 runs. Jos Buttler’s men have now lost 10 of their last 14 limited-overs games in what continues to be a remarkable fall from grace having relinquished their ODI World Cup crown so meekly in India.
England’s woes are typified by their captain, who looks hopelessly out of form – Buttler has passed 50 just once in his last 17 white-ball contests. The team have missed his big hitting in particular in the Caribbean with England’s push-and-run tactics making them look powder-puff compared to their powerful hosts.
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In contrast to England’s obvious troubles, the Windies look a good side, particularly on home pitches. There’s nothing subtle about their batting approach. Hit it and whack it is the order of the day; not a bad philosophy in T20. Their bowling line-up does offer variety and subtlety, though, particularly through spinners Akeal Hosein and Gudakesh Motie.
England have an awful lot of work to do to get back into the series. Two down with three to play, it’s win or bust in Grenada.
Team News
England’s sole change for the 2nd T20I – bringing back Moeen Ali for Ben Duckett – didn’t really work, albeit the veteran all-rounder performed better with the ball than poor Sam Curran, whose two overs went for 38. Curran did respond with a half century with the bat but there remains more questions than answers for England.
The Windies have no need to make changes, and will look to wrap up the series up before it moves on to Trinidad.
Expected Line-ups
West Indies: King, Mayers, Hope, Pooran (wk), Powell (c), Hetmyer, Russell, Holder, Hosein, Motie, Joseph
England: Salt, Buttler (c, wk), Jacks, Brook, Livingstone, Curran, Ali, Woakes, Ahmed, Rashid, Mills
What they said
West Indies captain Rovman Powell on his team’s muscular approach
“The world knows that we, as Caribbean batters, are power-hitters.
“We try and keep working on our game to see if we can be a touch better than the world in terms of power. Because they are a lot better than us at getting singles and that.”
England coach Matthew Mott on the 2nd T20I defeat
“We played good cricket again for 90% of the match. We will try to come up with more solutions. We are trying hard, we are close, and today we were a couple of good hits away from a win. They have just executed a bit better than us in the last two games.”
WI go up 2️⃣-0️⃣ in the T20I Series vs England🏏💥#WIHOMEFORCHRISTMAS #WIVENG PIC.TWITTER.COM/VXJZS7GARW
— Windies Cricket (@windiescricket) DECEMBER 14, 2023
When and how to watch
The 3rd T20I takes place on Saturday in Grenada at 1730 (UK time). You can watch it on TNT Sports with the programme starting at 1700.
Prediction
England look totally bereft of form and confidence. It’s hard to see anything other than another Windies win and an early series triumph. England have the players and the ability but the hosts have the momentum.
