North Sound [Antigua], December 3 (ANI): Jos Buttler-led England won the toss and decided to bat first against Shai Hope’s West Indies team in the first ODI match of the three-game series at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium here on Sunday.
The English side have an edge over the Caribbean squad in the ODI head-to-head record, having won 52 of the 102 matches played between the two sides. After a disappointing World Cup journey, England will look forward to displaying a strong performance in the 50-over match.
“Looks like a good wicket, we will bat first. I think it’ll stay the same through the 100 overs so we want to make first use of it. It’s an exciting series for us, with lots of new faces and there’s a lot of talent. We need to play positive cricket and adapt to the conditions,” Buttler said at the toss.
“We would have bowled first. Looks like a decent wicket, it’s fresh and there would be a bit of moisture at the start. We have to take every game seriously, we have to look ahead. We have two spinners today and Rutherford is making his debut. We have a few changes,” Hope said.
West Indies Playing XI: Brandon King, Alick Athanaze, Keacy Carty, Shai Hope (Wk/C), Shimron Hetmyer, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Yannic Cariah, Alzarri Joseph, Gudakesh Motie, Oshane Thomas.
England Playing XI: Philip Salt, Will Jacks, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (Wk/C), Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Brydon Carse, Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson.
The match between the two heavyweights will kick off at 7:00 PM IST. (ANI)
