England move under lights to take on peak-form West Indies
Nicholas Pooran made a scintillating 98 against Afghanistan. Photograph: Timothy A Clary/AFP/Getty Images
The daytime starts in this men’s T20 World Cup may be kinder to British newspaper deadlines and, they claim more importantly, the television audience in India. But T20 in the Caribbean is really all about the bacchanal after dark; those sultry, steamy evenings under lights, where the white ball flies into stands that are already pulsing to a soca beat.
After four group games before sunset, England will step into the calypso tent at 8.30pm local time on Wednesday night, 1.30am back home, for their first night game of the tournament. They meet a buoyant, unbeaten West Indies at the ground that carries the name of their head coach and two-times T20 World Cup-winning captain, Daren Sammy. The first outing in the Super Eight phase for both teams, it could rival the street party atmosphere of Gros Islet’s famous Friday night Jump Up if the buzz in Sammy’s native St Lucia is anything to go by.
A taster came on Monday night here. Even though both sides were already through, Rovman Powell and his men wowed their supporters with a serious flex of the muscles and a 104-run win over Afghanistan in their final first phase game; a more than handy steelpan tune-up for a date with the defending champions 48 hours later. Not that Andre “Muscle” Russell got much of a go, loosening up those bulging biceps as he sat waiting to bat only to face three balls at the back end.
Instead, it was the uber-talented Nicholas Pooran, a mere slip in comparison, who helped post a tournament high of 218 for five through an incendiary 53-ball 98. Amid the carnage was a World Cup record powerplay worth 92 runs, a fourth over that shipped a record-equalling 36, and Rashid Khan, T20’s great prestidigitator, being taken for 24 in his final set of six. In a low scoring tournament, the green-tinged pitch at the old Beausejour is finally one for batters.
“We always knew St Lucia was going to be one of the better wickets, because of our experience in the Caribbean Premier League,” said Powell, the Jamaican whose side has now won four from four. “So, it’s good that we’re starting [the Super Eights] here and we have played one game on it before the start. We’re accustomed to the boundaries and the wicket maybe. Hopefully that will suit us a little bit more than the Englishmen.”
Not that the Englishmen will be complaining, this the first of two games for them in St Lucia with South Africa to follow on Friday. Rain clouds, rather than the surfaces, have been their issue, with the 36-run defeat by Australia in Barbados their only chance to bat the full 20 overs so far (a task not helped by the over-par target of 202). On an island that witnessed its last volcanic eruption back in 1766, they will be keen to explode. And on a ground that has already seen 200 breached twice, plus Australia and Scotland trading 366 runs, now is the time.
There is a good deal of familiarity between the two teams, of course, England’s white-ballers having been regular visitors in recent times, including the 3-2 defeat last winter that saw the rope cleared 120 times in total. Among the most intriguing reunions will be Powell’s two left-arm spinners, Akeal Hosein and Gudakesh Motie, versus Jos Buttler’s predominantly right-handed batting line-up. So far in the tournament the pair have shared 12 wickets and conceded fewer than five an over, with Hosein’s inswinging arm-ball one to keep an eye on.
To that end, a second left-hander may enter the equation for England. Unless Ben Duckett steps up off the bench, it could be Sam Curran who gets another go here, with either he or Moeen Ali then having a chance to be pushed up the order tactically to disrupt Hosein and Motie and capitalise on the cross-winds that Pooran so ruthlessly targeted the other night. With Liam Livingstone struggling with a side injury, Curran could drop into his spot, unless Buttler and Matthew Mott decide to leave out Will Jacks and pack the side with all-rounders.
Equally, for all the talk of runs flowing like water, St Lucia’s extra bounce still offers incentive for the quicks. In white-ball cricket, Jofra Archer has only met the team he might have played for in another life once previously – claiming three for 30 in the 2019 World Cup group – and will be itching to put on a show. Mark Wood, meanwhile, should return at the venue that witnessed arguably the quickest spell of his career, the maiden Test five-wicket haul five years ago that saw keeper and slips stood closer to the sight screen (and batters inch towards square leg).
Reece Topley said the bowlers “may have to take their medicine” but like the Caribbean as a whole, a fascinating melting pot looks on the cards: an in-form West Indies side, roared on by a partying crowd, versus an England side simply keen to get the feet moving. In a four-team group that sees South Africa take on USA earlier in the day, the loser will instantly be off beat.