England bowl, Rehan Ahmed in; Alzarri Joseph among three West Indies changes – T20 IPL 2024

Toss England chose to bowl vs West Indies

England have won their third consecutive toss and, in keeping with the series so far, elected to bowl first against West Indies in the third T20i in Saint Lucia.

The toss was delayed by an hour after heavy overnight rains meant there were still wet spots on the outfield of the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground, before more wet weather prolonged the wait. When it arrived, Jos Buttler made it a hat-trick of correct calls.

Given the results in the first two matches in Barbados fell the way of the coin, England have an early advantage in their attempts to seal the series: victory would hand them an unassailable 3-0 lead with two matches to spare. They make one change, with Adil Rashid rested to give Rehan Ahmed an opportunity as the team’s primary legspinner. Prior to the toss, England announced that Reece Topley will return home after jarring his right knee in the first T20I.

In a bid to turnaround their fortunes, West Indies made three alterations to the XI that lost by seven wickets on Sunday. Alzarri Joseph is welcomed back from his two-match ban for leaving the field unannounced during the last match of the ODI series. Matthew Forde misses out with a groin injury and will play no further part in the series.

Shai Hope slots in as an opener with Brandon King suffering from a side strain. Shimron Hetmyer, who returned to the T20I side with a golden duck in the first match, replaces Sherfane Rutherford in the middle order.

The games thus far have played out in similar fashion; a back-and-forth first innings followed by a routine second in England’s favour. The floodlights and dew morphed conditions to favour batters in the two chases, and that is likely to be the case again. The rains have brought a little extra moisture in the air, as well as a noticeably stodgy outfield, with drying agent scattered across the problem areas in the deep.

History leans in the tourists’ favour at this venue having won both previous encounters here – the most recent being an eight-wicket win in the T20 World Cup earlier this year. It was England’s most convincing performance of an otherwise listless tournament, even if they did trump the hosts by making it to the semi-finals.

West Indies: 1 Shai Hope, 2 Evin Lewis, 3 Nicholas Pooran (wk), 4 Rovman Powell (capt), 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Roston Chase, 7 Romario Shepherd, 8 Gudakesh Motie, 9 Akeal Hosein, 10 Alzarri Joseph, 11 Terrance Hinds

England: 1 Phil Salt (wk), 2 Jos Buttler (capt), 3 Will Jacks, 4 Liam Livingstone, 5 Jacob Bethell, 6 Sam Curran, 7 Dan Mousley, 8 Jamie Overton, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Rehan Ahmed, 11 Saqib Mahmood

Vithushan Ehantharajah is an associate editor at ESPNcricinfo

Source: ESPN Crickinfo

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