By Brandon Corlette in Barbados
After a sensational century from Rovman Powell in the third match, West Indies lead the five-match T20I Betway series against England 2-1. Throughout the series, the men in maroon have played some solid cricket against the world’s number one-ranked team, England. Despite being one win away, surrounding ‘noise’ about victimisation in the camp has been a talking point. With the fourth match being played, the West Indies would be looking to win the series and silence ‘the noise’.
Indies batting Coach Monty Desai
Speaking to the media on the eve of the match, batting coach Monty Desai has said he is delighted to see the batsmen coming to the party, but he wants to see this on a consistent basis.
“If you look at all three games, we have been in the battle throughout. Second game, we did not have the kind of result we wanted in the first half while chasing, but a number of players (did) bring their all-round skills, (and that) kept us in the battle, and we lost that game by one run. If you look at the last game, whatever they are thinking, planning, you could see a lot of things coming out in the game,” he explained.
“For example, when you talk about expressing themselves properly, you could see them playing some good, strong shots in the areas where we want them to play and where they wanted to play. And also, we were evolving as a batting group, sweeping and reverse sweeps. The best part was the partnership we stitched together. It is good to see that, and we want that to happen even more, and that can only come with consistency,” Desai declared.
While noting that West Indies are good at hitting sixes, Desai said the intent and awareness have been aspects of play the team has worked on, and so far, this was applied in the series.
Meanwhile, England opener Tom Banton has also been impressed with the West Indies batting. “They’re such good strikers of the cricket ball. I remember I was keeping last night, and just seeing how far they hit it, it was pretty scary, to be honest.”
England T20I squad: Eoin Morgan, Moeen Ali (captain), Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Liam Dawson, George Garton, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Saqib Mahmood, Tymal Mills, David Payne, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, James Vince, Harry Brook.
