Cricket

West Indies choose to bowl as Forde makes T20I debut

West Indies win toss and choose to bowl vs England

West Indies won the toss and chose to bowl first against England in the penultimate encounter of their five-match T20I series in Tarouba.

West Indies had already made two changes to their squad for the remainder of the series on the eve of this match, with Shimron Hetmyer dropped having missed the third game after scores of 1 and 2 in the opening two fixtures, making way for Johnson Charles, and Alzarri Joseph rested ahead of next month’s tour of Australia with Oshane Thomas coming into the squad.
But it was Matthew Forde who got the nod for his maiden T20I in West Indies’ only change after he impressed on international debut in the third ODI against England on December 9.

England made two changes to their line-up for a must-win clash with West Indies leading the series 2-1. Chris Woakes, who woke up in the Caribbean to the news he had been picked up by Punjab Kings in the IPL auction, came into the side along with Rehan Ahmed, replacing Gus Atkinson and Tymal Mills.

Phil Salt, whose unbeaten 109 off just 56 balls helped England to victory in the previous game, was due to take the wicketkeeping gloves from Jos Buttler.

Buttler, the England captain, said at the toss that he too would have liked to chase. Play was set to begin in humid conditions with the covers left on the pitch until quite soon before the toss.

West Indies: 1 Brandon King, 2 Kyle Mayers, 3 Shai Hope, 4 Nicholas Pooran (wk), 5 Rovman Powell (capt), 6 Sherfane Rutherford, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Jason Holder, 9 Matthew Forde, 10 Akeal Hosein, 11 Gudakesh Motie

England: 1 Jos Buttler (capt), 2 Phil Salt (wk), 3 Will Jacks, 4 Liam Livingtsone, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Moeen Ali, 7 Sam Curran, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Rehan Ahmed, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Reece Topley