England vs West Indies 1st Test Live Today on Wednesday 8, July 2020 from Ageas Bowl, Southampton at 11:00 am local and 10:00 am GMT. As we know cricket is resuming after almost four-month now so both sides are excited and ready for this match.
England vs West Indies 1st Test Live
The first test between England and the West Indies is a very special occasion as it marks the resumption of international cricket after a break of almost four months.
The last recognized international cricket game was an ODI between Australia and New Zealand at the Sydney Cricket Ground before the rapid spread of COVID-19 interrupted all major sporting activities around the world. As a precaution, this game was played against the spread of the virus behind closed doors – a measure that is to apply to upcoming international games.
While the importance of the game for the players is not lost, they have insisted that their pursuit of success does not subside. In fact, the longer pause will likely encourage players to excel.
Welcome back, cricket!
— ICC (@ICC) July 6, 2020
You’ve been missed ❤️ pic.twitter.com/G5HOBL44GE
Led by Kemar Roach and Shannon Gabriel, the West Indies have a keen attack that is well placed to go through the world’s best lineups, especially when conditions support them. With a certain amount of cloud cover, which is expected in the next few days, the fast men will enjoy the view of bowling with the Dukes Ball.
England’s bats showed promising signs on their victorious tour of South Africa late last year. In the absence of Joe Root, Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley will be particularly interested in building on this promise if they have a chance.
The substitute captain Ben Stokes will also want to leave an impression with the bat. The bowling attack looks very rounded on the tempo front. The swinging skills of James Anderson, the know-how in the seam movement of Stuart Broad and the unsettling pace of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood could cause great problems for the visiting batsmen.
🏟️ Ageas Bowl
— ICC (@ICC) July 7, 2020
📍 Southampton
🆚 #ENGvWI 1st Test
⏰ Wednesday, 10.00 GMT pic.twitter.com/JIRXsWqHPp
Do you know what happened last time between both sides?
When the teams last met in a friendly, England won by a remarkable 232 runs, but not before the West Indies won the series by bringing some humble defeats to England in their first two games of rubber. Roach was particularly deadly during this series, collecting 18 gates with an average of 13.88.
With the bat, Jason Holder became the top run getter with 229 runs against his name, 202 of which ended up in an undefeated inning in Barbados. The other men who scored hundreds in this series were Shane Dowrich, Roston Chase and Root.
Captain’s View
Ben Stokes (England’s Captain)
Everyone is ready and ready to go. You have to look at it when we go to the field to represent the country. When you have the three lions on your chest, nothing makes you proud. I know that there will be no one in the crowd who hears or receives this energy, but we know that we have hundreds of thousands of people from all over England who want us to do it well.
Jason Holder (West Indies’s Captain)
We did well in the last series against Afghanistan. We won against England and did really well on the back of the top order. They return to the series against England, Shane (Dowrich) got a century, Roston Chase, I probably got runs in the lower half, there were still very significant top-level posts.
Weather and Conditions
A lot of cloud cover is to be expected in the course of the test, as there are occasional showers. The cloudy conditions promise a spicy competition given the quality of the bowlers on both sides.
However, spinners are expected to become more important as the game progresses. In the last test played here, Moeen Ali’s off-spin England opened nine gates to win against India.
England Squad For 1st Test 2020
B Stokes (Captain)
J Anderson
J Archer
D Bess
S Broad
R Burns
J Buttler (Keeper)
Z Crawley
J Denly
O Pope
D Sibley
C Woakes
M Wood
West Indies Squad For 1st Test 2020
J Holder (Captain)
J Blackwood
N Bonner
K Brathwaite
S Brooks
J Campbell
R Chase
R Cornwall
S Dowrich (Keeper)
S Gabriel
C Holder
S Hope
A Joseph
R Reifer
K Roach