England collapses in St. Lucia

BY: KAYLA KARIM

In the series finale in St Lucia, England recorded a low one-day total of 113 against West Indies in a one-sided game. The last time that England had scored remotely as low as they did in this match was back in 1986 for a low of 114.

West Indies 22-year-old Oshane Thomas saw his first ever five-wicket haul in professional cricket forcing England to lose their final five wickets for just two runs in the space of 20 balls. West Indies achieved their target before the scheduled innings break and Chris Gayla broke the back of the chase with 77 from 27 balls before being bowled by Mark Wood. Chris Gayle managed to smash nine sixes and five fours on pace to pass AB De Villiers’ 31-ball record for the fastest ODI hundred. Gayle’s run left West Indies needing just 21 to secure a victory to even the series 2-2.

England’s Chris Woakes picked up the further wicket of Shai Hope but the host team eliminated the required runs in just 12.1 overs, ending England’s run of nine series wins. With this loss, many are skeptical of the team’s success going into the first ever 50 over World Cup in the summer.

Many tend to forget that England’s high rise yet high reward batting style does not make their team invincible, despite the progress that has been made since the last World Cup four years ago. Keeping in mind that only last summer against South Africa, the team was bowled out for 153 after collapsing to 20 for 6 at one stage.

Since the last World Cup, England has won four other contests in which a series was on the line going into the final match, where the team had been chasing on each occasion.

Jason Holder to become West Indies’ captain

The next series between West Indies and England will see a new face as captain. Jason Holder will add the title of being captain for the T20I series. Carlos Brathwaite is currently the regular West Indies T20 captain and selectors want to see the ODI squad spend more time together ahead of the World Cup this summer. They feel as the time will help them to fine tune various strategies in situations such as who bowls in Powerplays and at the death.

West Indies will head to Ireland in May for a tri-series however there is doubt surrounding how beneficial it will prove for their World Cup preparations as there are up to eight members of the ODI squad that could be unavailable due to a scheduling clash. With this being the case, the tournament may see opportunities given to younger players.