Key events
Team news: Matthews injured
West Indies’ representative at the toss was Shemaine Campbell, who standing in as captain because of a shoulder injury to Hayley Matthews. That’s a big blow – to both teams. So is the absence of Matthews’ opening partner Qiana Joseph.
Realeanna Grimmond comes into the side and will open alongside Zaida James. Stafanie Taylor and Jannillea Glasgow are also included; Mandy Mangru drops out.
England have made two changes, with Alice Davidson-Richards and Lauren Filer replacing Charlie Dean and Em Arlott. Nat Sciver-Brunt says they are keen to look at the whole squad ahead of the World Cup.
England Beaumont, Jones (wk), Lamb, Sciver-Brunt (c), Dunkley, Capsey, Davidson-Richards, Cross, Smith, Filer, Bell.
West Indies Grimmond, James, Campbelle (c/wk), Taylor, Gajnabi, Glasgow, Alleyne, Claxton, Fraser, Fletcher, Ramharack.
England win the toss and bat
“Looks a good surface,” says NSB, “and as a team we’d like to challenge ourselves to repeat a good batting performance the other day.”
It’s a blustery day in Leicester, more than a little brisk, but the forecast is dry so we should start on time.
Preamble
Another day, another England v West Indies fixture. This is their eighth game in 15 days across formats and genders – pity the fool who signed up to cover the lot, eh – and so far England have won them all.
If that run continues in Leicester today, Nat Sciver-Brunt and Charlotte Edwards clinch their second series win as England captain and coach. They won’t be getting carried away – this is a weakened West Indies side, and England usually hammer them in bilateral series anyway.
Nasser Hussain made an excellent point on the Sky Cricket podcast that, if England want to become the best in the world, they should assess their performance against the remarkable Hayley Matthews rather than the rest of the West Indies team.
Matthews has scored 44 per cent of West Indies’ runs across the two white-ball series, with innings of 100*, 6, 71 and 48. Two of her dismissals have been at the hands of Em Arlott, who has caught the eye in an impressive debut series.
So has Linsey Smith, a semi-regular in the T20 side who took a five-for on her ODI debut on Sunday. And Amy Jones, pushed back up to open in the ODI team, started with a lovely century at Derby.
It’s those fresh details, rather than the fairly predictable results, that have made it all worthwhile.
The match starts at 1pm.
