England, under skipper Joe Root, will be hoping for a turnaround in fortunes when they take on the West Indies in the inaugural Test of the three-match series at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on Tuesday (March 8), knowing that some much-needed points in the ICC World Test Championship standings are at stake after the Ashes debacle. Both England and the Kraigg Brathwaite-led home team currently occupy the bottom two places on the WTC standings, with the West Indies eighth and England one rung below following a 0-4 drubbing during the Ashes series in Australia.


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The Caribbean side most recently featured in Sri Lanka towards the end of last year, where they were comprehensively beaten 2-0 in the two-match series in Galle. England didn’t fare any better as they only managed to hold on to a draw in the fourth Test at Sydney, losing the other four by big margins.


The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) acted swiftly, showing the door to coach Chris Silverwood and leaving out experienced seamers Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad for the tour of the Caribbean. But their problems have been compounded on the tour with pace bowler Ollie Robinson succumbing to a shoulder injury and set to miss the first Test.


The two teams will battle it out for the newly-created Richards-Botham trophy, named after West Indies great Sir Vivian Richards and England star Sir Ian Botham. The last time the teams had met, pace stalwart Stuart Broad had picked up 10 wickets for the match as England won by 269 runs in Manchester to ensure they registered a 2-1 series triumph over the West Indies in 2020.


Here are the Match Details…


West Indies vs England, 1st Test


Venue: North Sound, Antigua


Date & Time: March 8 to 12, 7.30pm IST onwards


Live Streaming: Fancode


West Indies vs England Dream 11 team


Wicketkeeper – Jonny Bairstow


Batters – Nkrumah Bonner, Joe Root, Dan Lawrence


All-rounders – Chris Woakes, Ben Stokes, Jason Holder


Bowlers – Kemar Roach, Veeraswamy Permaul, Jack Leach, Mark Wood


Captain – Jason Holder


Vice-captain – Jonny Bairstow


West Indies vs England Playing XIs


West Indies: John Campbell, Kraigg Braithwaite (captain), Nkrumah Bonner, Jermaine Blackwood, Shamarh Brooks, Joshua Da Silva (wk), Kyle Mayers, Jason Holder, Kemar Roach, Alzzari Joseph, Veerasammy Permaul


England: Alex Lees, Zak Crawley, Joe Root (c), Daniel Lawrence, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Ben Stokes, Ben Foakes, Chris Woakes, Craig Overton, Mark Wood, Jack Leach