An England side, who have been tumbling down the ICC World Rankings, will be hoping for a turnaround in performance when they take on West Indies in the second one-day international on Wednesday.
The hosts lead the series 1-0 after claiming an incredible victory here at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium by four wickets and with seven balls to spare in the first of the three-match ODI series on Sunday.
Match preview
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The West Indies pulled off a record-breaking performance in the first ODI as they chased down the 325-run target set by England, beating their previous best-ever run chase of 309/6 against Pakistan back in 2017.
In just his fifth ODI appearance, Alick Athanaze forged a formidable 104-run partnership with fellow opener Brandon King (scoring 35 off 44 balls) in 17.3 overs to give the Windies the perfect start in that match.
The opener demonstrated composure at the crease, tallying 66 runs from 65 deliveries, featuring nine boundaries and two sixes and did well to take the pressure off King at the top of the order.
Skipper Shai Hope, who earned the Player of the Match award for his excellent unbeaten 109 off 83 balls, then ensured that his side drew first blood in the first of three matches, and they are now just one win away from their first ODI series victory over the Three Lions since 2007.
However, the major area that the Windies will need to address ahead of Wednesday's clash is with the ball in hand, as each of their five main bowlers conceded a minimum of 63 runs each in their 10-over allotment.
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Meanwhile, following their dismal 2023 Cricket World Cup campaign, England looked as though they had got themselves in a strong position to start this series with a win, but unfortunately, from an English persuasion, it was not to be.
Jos Butler's much-changed starting lineup posted an impressive 325 with their knock before they were dismissed with the last ball of the innings after Harry Brook top-scored with 71 of just 72 balls.
The Three Lions then looked likely to cruise to victory after reducing their opponents to 213-5 with 12 overs to go, but that was before Hope and a big-hitting Romario Shepherd put on a stellar sixth-wicket stand to pull their side back into the contest.
The one major positive that Buttler and co would have taken from the match, though, was the performance of young Rehan Ahmed, who put the brakes on the Windies batting after the pacers got little assistance on a pitch that clearly favoured the batting side.
England have now lost six of their last eight one-day internationals, which included defeats against the likes of Sri Lanka and, more shockingly Afghanistan, which has seen them drop to fifth place in the World ODI Rankings.
Team News
After a very even contest in the first match, both sides are likely to remain unchanged, with Athanaze and King opening the batting for the Windies, though Keacy Carty will be hoping for a better return than the 16 runs he managed in the last match.
Gudakesh Motie was the pick of the West Indian bowlers in the last match, taking 2/49 in his 10 overs, and will be crucial here again on a pitch that offered very little for the pacemen with the new ball in hand.
Sam Curran went for 98 runs in 9.5 overs and may be at risk of being replaced, although most expect him to be given one more chance here before Josh Tongue is recalled to the starting 11.
Buttler, who was the lowest-scoring of the top five batsmen, may be tempted to toss the ball to Will Jacks in this match, considering the success the teams saw in the first match when taking the pace of the ball.
West Indies squad: Shai Hope (c), Alzarri Joseph (vc), Alick Athanaze, Yannic Cariah, Keacy Carty, Roston Chase, Shane Dowrich, Matthew Forde, Shimron Hetmyer, Brandon King, Gudakesh Motie, Kjorn Ottley, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Oshane Thomas
England squad: Jos Buttler (c), Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Tom Hartley, Will Jacks, Liam Livingstone, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Phil Salt, John Turner
Series so far
West Indies leads 1-0
Match 1: West Indies won by 4 wickets
England - 325 (50)
West Indies - 326/6 (48.5)
We say: England to win
England showed glimpses of their destructive batting lineup in the last match but were unable to back it up with their bowling performance, which ultimately cost them the opening match. Having had a few days to work on their shortcomings, we expect a better performance from The Three Lions in match two and are backing them to level the series in this one.
Devesh Jaganath
