Shake West Indies chose to bowl vs. England
Shai Hope elected to bowl after winning the toss at Kensington Oval, with West Indies and England hoping for a rare ODI series victory in the decisive third match. The sides made two changes each, with West Indies bringing in Romario Shepherd and Alzarri Joseph for Jayden Seales and Shamar Joseph.
“We’re not sure what we’re going to get,” Hope said of the playing surface at his stadium. “I had to assess the conditions as a bowling group and put pressure on them.”
For England, Reece Topley and Jamie Overton replaced John Turner and Saqib Mahmood. Overton has been playing as a specialist batsman since returning from a stress fracture in his back, but was seen marking his run before the pitch.
Liam Livingstone, the England captain, said he too would have opted to bowl. “We’ll see what the course has to offer, hopefully it gets slower as the day goes on,” he said.
The West Indies took a 1-0 lead after claiming victory in a rain-affected first ODI in Antigua, before England chased down 329 on the same ground two days later.
Neither team has played much bilateral ODI cricket in the last 12 months. The West Indies beat England 2-1 during their tour in December, but series defeats in Australia and Sri Lanka limited their attempts to climb the rankings in search of automatic qualification for the 2027 World Cup.
Meanwhile, England’s last series win was against Ireland in September 2023.
West Indies: 1 Brandon King, 2 Evin Lewis, 3 Keacy Carty, 4 Shai Hope (captain and week), 5 Sherfane Rutherford, 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 Roston Chase, 8 Romario Shepherd, 9 Alzarri Joseph, 10 Gudakesh Motie, 11 Matthew Forde
England: 1 Phil Salt (week), 2 Will Jacks, 3 Jordan Cox, 4 Jacob Bethell, 5 Liam Livingstone (captain), 6 Dan Mousley, 7 Sam Curran, 8 Jamie Overton, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Jofra Archer, 11 Reece Topley
