West Indies vs England Prediction: West Indies will be high on confidence

West Indies and England are going head to head in the Match 1 of T20 Series at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados on 10th November 2024. West Indies will be high on confidence after winning the ODI series. Who will win this game of cricket?

Shai Hope is expected to be relieved of the additional responsibilities of team management in the ODI series and turn his entire focus toward wicket-keeping and batting. They will have Rovman Powell as captain, and Brandon King and Evin Lewis will open batting following their great performances in the ODI series v. England and the T20I series v. Sri Lanka recently. The middle-order appears well-balanced. It will be missed without Romario Shepherd, though, as that is where the big hits would most likely come in down the stretch of the innings. Moreover, the suspension of Alzarri Joseph for two games following the incident wherein he seems to have shown disrespect to his captain also impacts team selection and from form and his participation form award recently he was given the Player of the Series, Matthew Forde is likely to lead the bowling attack against England.

Brandon King, Evin Lewis, Shai Hope (wk), Roston Chase, Sherfane Rutherford, Rovman Powell (c), Gudakesh Motie, Fabian Allen, Shamar Springer, Shamar Joseph, Matthew Forde

Adding Jos Buttler to any team would enhance that team's chances in T20, and this is very true for England too. Buttler was out due to a groin injury and has almost a couple of months' time having missed the action. That means this will be his first since the end of the 2024 T20 World Cup, which ended in June. Buttler's absence will be covered by Phil Salt, who will henceforth don the gloves. But more importantly, he will share the opening slot with Buttler. England's middle order-Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Jacob Bethell, and Dan Mousley-are likely to continue their good form which they had in the recently concluded ODIs. The bowling for England will rely much on Adil Rashid's impressive show against West Indies in T20Is and also on Jofra Archer's frugal show in ODIs.

Jos Buttler (c), Phil Salt (wk), Will Jacks, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Jacob Bethell, Dan Mousley, Jamie Overton, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, John Turner

West Indies had an excellent record in bi-lateral T20I series played on their home turf. So, Jos Buttler's return will boost their level of play, making us expect a very competitive Barbados contest on Saturday. We give a slight chance to West Indies to win this contest, and hence our prediction is that West Indies will win this contest.