West Indies will be looking to seal the ENG vs WI ODI series when they face the Jos Buttler-led England in the second ODI of the three-match series on December 6. The hosts triumphed in the first ODI at at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua with a dramatic chase. The chase was led by their captain’s match-winning ton. They will be looking to wrap up the series with a win in the second game. England, on the other hand, will need to win this game at all costs in order to remain in the series. Batting first in the 1st ODI, England posted a decent total of 325 on the board thanks to some good power hitting by the likes of Phil Salt, Zak Crawley and Harry Brook. The total, being the highest runs to have been scored at the ground at an ODI match, looked enough till West Indies came out to bat. The WI openers stitched a 107 run partnership to put the hosts in a commanding position before Shai Hope took over. Hope played a captain’s knock, helping his team move towards victory with a ton before Romario Shepherd and Shimron Hetmyer finished the job. West Indies would not want to change their batting strategy too much after the fantastic display in ENG vs WI first ODI. The Hope-led team, which failed to qualify for the recently concluded ODI World Cup, did absolutely everything right in the batting department. Openers Alick Athanaze and Brandon King gave their team the perfect start before Hope steadied the innings even further. Lower order batters played responsible knocks to push their team past the finishing line. Hope will hope to move in the same direction in the ENG vs WI 2nd ODI. The West Indies bowlers did not have a field day in the first ODI. The England batters found it easy to hit them all around the park. Although three bowlers picked up two wickets each in the first innings, the lack of wickets at crucial intervals will be something the West Indies bowlers will be looking to correct ahead of the second ODI. England have endured a tough few months recently. After their below-par performance in the ODI World Cup, the English team succumbed to a surprising defeat against West Indies. Captain Jos Buttler must be demanding more from himself, as the batter has not had things going for him recently. In the first ODI, Buttler caught a sorry figure after departing for just 3 of 7 balls. Although Buttler would be happy to see so many different run scorers in the first ODI. However, the lack of big scores after getting off to fast starts is something that the English batting line-up will need to address. It will be crucial if they want to give themselves a chance to stay alive in the series. England’s bowling was strategically ripped apart by the West Indies in the first ODI. The West Indies scored when they needed to and rotated strikes when the boundaries were hard to come by. No English bowler seemed to trouble the West Indies line-up too much. The England bowlers need to be at their best in the second ODI. They will need to take wickets at regular intervals to upset the balance of this West Indies batting line-up. The likes of Sam Curran and Liam Livingstone will be asked to step up. Antigua’s weather forecast for the next matchday doesn’t look promising. The National Weather Service in Antigua has put the chances of rain in Antigua at 20%. The humidity is expected to be about 74%. The temperature is expected to be around 29 degrees Celsius with a wind speed around 19 kms per hour. The first ODI was a good indicator of what the pitch at Sir Vivian Richards stadium can offer. The batters found it easy to hit through the lines with the ball coming nicely onto the bat. However, the stadium’s pitch has something to offer for the bowlers too. One can expect a tight contest between the bat and the ball on this pitch. The winning team in the toss could bowl first and then chase down the target.
