ICC World Cup: Will rain let England take on West Indies?

England and West Indies will face each other at the Hampshire bowl, Southampton with contrasting results in their previous games on Friday (June 14).

England came back after a defeat against Pakistan to dominate Bangladesh and win the game by 106 runs. Jason Roy scored 153 followed by some disciplined display by the bowlers at Sophia Gardens on Saturday. The English will be wary of the potential of the Caribbean side who can trouble the batsmen with the short ball. In the batting department Gayle and Co. are hard hitters and that may make it difficult for the hosts to contain runs.

On the other hand, West Indies are coming off a no result game against the Proteas as only 7.3 overs were possible due to persistent rain. In their last completed game against Australia, the two-time champions fell short by 15 runs.

Sheldon Cottrell and Oshane Thomas will aim to carry their form from the previous matches.

Also read: The rivalry: A look back at India and Pakistan’s World Cup face-offs

Toss Prediction

With the conditions expected to be cloudy and overcast, both teams will be looking to bowl first and exploit the conditions.

Playing XIs

West Indies: As Andre Russell and Evin Lewis weren’t fit, Darren Bravo and Kemar Roach featured vs South Africa. If Russell comes back into the XI, the same can’t be said about Bravo.

Predicted XI: Chris Gayle, Darren Bravo, Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran, Carlos Braithwaite, Jason Holder, Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas, Ashley Nurse and Kemar Roach

England: Moeen Ali wasn’t a part of the XI as he was unavailable due to the birth of his child but he most probably will replace Mark Wood.

Predicted XI: Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Jofra Archer, Liam Plunkett and Adil Rashid

Weather Forecast: It is expected to rain in few spells and the conditions will be cloudy and overcast for most of the time.