by After a long wait of almost four months international cricket has finally started as the first test match between ENG vs WI is already underway at The Rose Bowl, Southamption, England. This series is very important for the future of world cricket as the overall outcome will give us a clear indication whether its safe to resume the gentleman’s game or not at the moment amidst the ongoing Covid crisis. There were a lot of talks about the bio secure enviorment before the beginning of this tour but the next few days will decide whether this bio secure thing is actually effective or the bubble will burst.
Speaking of the 1st match between England and West Indies, well the toss has already happened and England wins the toss after which they elected to bat first. Ben Stokes is leading the English side in the first test as regular England skipper Joe Root is absent as he is expecting his second child in the next few days. The weather conditions are not so good for 5 day cricket at Southamption as we have already seen a lot of showers on the first day of play.
Teams:
England Playing XI – Rory Burns, Dominic Sibley, Joe Denly, Zak Crawley, Ben Stokes (c), Ollie Pope, Jos Buttler (wk), Dominic Bess, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, James Anderson
West Indies Playing XI – John Campbell, Kraigg Brathwaite, Shamarh Brooks, Shai Hope, Roston Chase, Jermaine Blackwood, Shane Dowrich (wk), Jason Holder (c), Alzarri Joseph, Kemar Roach, Shannon Gabriel
ENG vs WI 1st Test 8 July 2020 – 12 July 2020 Day by Day Updates
Day 1 – England 1st Innings – 35/1 – 17.4 Overs – Stumps
Day 2 – England 1st Innings – 204 All Out – 67.3 Overs – West Indies 1st Innings – 57/1 – 19.3 Overs – Stumps
Day 3 – West Indies 1st Innings – 318 All Out – 102 Overs – England 2nd Innings – 15/0 – 10 Overs – Stumps
Day 4 – England 2nd Innings – 284/8 – 104 Overs – Stumps
Day 5 – West Indies 2nd Innings – 200/6 – 64.2 Overs
Result – West Indies won by 4 wickets
In the end as far as our prediction is concerned we are fully expecting this to be a one sided contest as England will win first test match against West Indies. Pacers will definitely dominate in the cloudy conditions and it will all come down to which team has the better batting skills (England in my opinion).
