Cricket lovers are in for a treat as the West Indies team face the home side in England for a three-match Test series. The bilateral series will resume international cricket at a global stage after the Coronavirus halted sports across the world. The Ageas Bowl in Southampton will feature 22 men playing five days of cricket with millions around the world celebrating the emergence of cricket amidst a wave of sadness and depression.
The series is scheduled from 8 July to 28 July, which is considered as summer in England. This means that the batsmen will have their work cut out against the seamers. The new red cherry moves a lot but once the ball is less shinier, not many bowlers can make the full use of it.
The primary goal of the batsmen will be to see off the new ball and then capitalize on the opportunities. Both sides are not spin-heavy and thus can plan to attack the spinners and score as many runs as possible.
There are some batsmen who might take the opportunity and make full use of it and come out on top in the three-Test series. Let’s have a look at the top 3 batsmen to look out for:
- Ben Stokes – Stokes was in the form of his life before the Coronavirus pandemic happened and his form didn’t look even a bit different when he played in the practice match leading to the Test series. He is one player who likes to perform under pressure, which was evident in the World Cup 2019 Final as well as in the well fought Ashes 2019 series just after the mega event. The pressure has come to him in the form of captaincy for the first Test as Root will not be playing.
Against West Indies, the southpaw has scored 590 runs in 9 Tests at an average of 42.14 including a century and 4 half-centuries. In England, he has scored at an average of 57 against them. Keep checking the Live Cricket Score to see how Stokes performs in the upcoming series.
- Shai Hope – The West Indian was performing well before the COVID-19 break. Hope’s career graph in ODI cricket had taken the upward route and he will be eager to convert his performances in the longest format too. The 26-year-old has a special liking towards England when it comes to Test cricket. He has scored most of his runs against them and has also scored the only centuries against them, interestingly, in the same Test!
He averages 42.33 against England and a whopping 75.00 in England. He will be happy that he will be batting in his favourite country after such a long break.
- Joe Root – One would expect the England skipper to be at the top of the list when someone talks of the ‘Top 3 batsmen to look out for involving England’. However, the only reason he is not at the top is that he will be missing the first Test due to a joyous personal celebration, the birth of his second child. Root is one of the Fab 4 in the current generation of batsmen. The only point of criticism he receives is his inability to frequently convert his 50s into 100s and the hunger for runs might make him do things even better. We might see a Root 2.0 that has a better conversion rate.
Against West Indies, Root has scored 803 runs in 9 Tests at an average of 57.35 including 3 hundreds and 4 fifties.
