West Indies vs England, 5th T20I Match Preview, Prediction and Live Streaming

West Indies got their first win of the T20I series in the 4th T20I. Although it did not affect the fact the series is already done and dusted in Engand’s favor, the hosts would feel that things have started falling into their rightful places. The top-order fired in response to England’s yet another 200-plus score. With just one more game to go, can the Windies turn it into 3-2 to tone their series defeat into looking a touch better?

Posting a gigantic total of 219, the English must have thought this would be enough to pin the West Indian team against the wall once again. That, however, was a mistake. The English bowlers had to take a reckless beating at the hands of the opponent batters, who up until this point had been quite timid with the bat. Only Rehan Ahmed and John Turner could add something to their wicket columns as the rest had to suffice with heaps of runs.

There is also the toss factor to consider. The team batting second has found a significant advantage this tour, whether, in ODIs or T20I games. All the games have been won by the teams batting second with relative ease. There is no way this would not sound like a killjoy, but with only one game to go the team would be rather unflustered by this.

Team Overview:

The Windies get hard to stop when their openers are hell-bent on taking the bowlers to the cleaners. During this tour, the West Indies have won three matches so far, and on all three of these occasions, there was one constant: their openers led the charge. Since the start of this year, the West Indian team has won 11 T20Is, and during all of these wins their openers averaged 37 at 150 strike rate. The tale of the 4th T20I was no different either, and if they hope to win the final fixture too, they have the blueprint well laid out.

Jos Buttler and his men scripted the highest T20I score at the Daren Sammy Stadium yesterday but failed to stop West Indies from getting ahead of them. Jacob Bethell was instrumental in taking the total past 200, his red-inked 62 runs off just 32 balls showed that he is ever so ready to take the England’s middle-order responsibility. Phil Salt, yet again, scored a half-century against his favorite opposition. With the next match staged to play in St. Lucia as well, the visitors would want their bowlers to be more miserly with the run bargain. However, there is not a lot they can do if the ball gets chucked into their hands in the second innings.

Head-to-Head Matches:

In the 34 T20I games both teams have played so far, West Indies dominate the match-up with eighteen wins against the English next to their name. England resisted their dominance and won the remaining sixteen matches.

Weather and Pitch Report:

St. Lucia will again hold plenty for spinners but a high score can again be expected. Nevertheless, batting will start becoming easier by the time the first team reaches third powerplay and will keep on getting better as the game progresses in the second innings. The ball was seen coming nicely onto the bat in the latter half of the game as a result West Indies were able to gun down the joint-highest total of the venue in T20Is.

The rain is again on the cards to impact the game. The key is to keep the ball dry and hope to hit any cracks the pitch has developed by now.