Toss England chose to bat vs West Indies

England won the toss and elected to bat against West Indies in the ODI series opener at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua.

The 2019 50-over champions’ white-ball reboot begins with an XI featuring just six players who were on deck for the dismal World Cup campaign, supplemented by some fresh-yet-familiar faces. The majority of the latter can be found in the batting, with Harry Brook the lone survivor in the top five.

Saturday morning’s 5.2-magnitude earthquake in Antigua has not affected preparations, the match or indeed conditions. Buttler, upon calling heads correctly, suggested the pitch will stay the same throughout the 100 overs. Shai Hope said he would have bowled first, and opted for two spinners in Yannic Cariah and Gudakesh Motie. England’s selection of Liam Livingstone and Will Jacks represents the tourists’ supplementary slow bowling options alongside Rehan Ahmed’s legspin.

It is set to be a warm and humid one, with temperatures hovering around the 30C mark. For both sides, the road to the 2027 ODI World Cup starts here.

West Indies: 1 Brandon King, 2 Alick Athanaze, 3 Keacy Carty, 4 Shai Hope (capt, wk), , 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Sherfane Rutherford, 7 Romario Shepherd, 8 Yannic Cariah, 9 Alzarri Joseph, 10 Gudakesh Motie, 11 Oshane Thomas

England: 1 Will Jacks, 2 Phil Salt, 3 Zak Crawley, 4 Harry Brook, 5 Ben Duckett, 6 Jos Buttler (capt & wk), 7 Liam Livingstone, 8 Sam Curran, 9 Brydon Carse, 10 Rehan Ahmed, 11 Gus Atkinson.