Twenty20 / Tobias Gourlay / 02 May 2010 /

Tobias Gourlay wonders whether England have the constitution to deal with Kieron Pollard.

Venue & Conditions

The slow pitches of the Caribbean - Providence in Guyana showed no signs of being untypical on Friday - might suit England, who have already won warm-up games with Bangladesh and South Africa. In their middle order, they have the two best nurdlers in international Twenty20 cricket: Paul Collingwood is one of them, of course, but the one man who allows fewer dot balls than him is Kevin Pietersen; they are the only players (among those who have faced at least 250 balls) to have allowed fewer than 30% of them to go by without scoring. In low-scoring matches, the ability to find gaps in the field and run hard is more important than usual.

Team News

Six of the West Indies' top seven got into double figures against Ireland on Friday; none made it beyond 30. The most likely change will come if Chris Gayle has recovered from the glutes problem that kept him on the sidelines. Andre Fletcher, who scored 19 at less than a run a ball, looks most vulnerable. The bowlers did just fine in getting rid of the Irish for 68.

Ravi Bopara top-scored in one of England's warm-up matches, but will be benched if Kevin Pietersen's available. The bowling attack should be spearheaded by James Anderson, who has good previous experience of Caribbean conditions. Michael Yardy's five wickets in the two practice games have probably earned him a position as Graeme Swann's assistant in the spin department.

Match Odds

England are slight favourites at [1.92], but have lost three of four previous T20 meetings with the Windies. An overall T20 World Cup record of three wins from 10 matches might also deter those who are not automatically obliged to make the patriotic bet.

Top Batsman

In their warm-ups, both of England's openers failed both times. Their positional advantage makes Michael Lumb and Craig Kieswetter [5.0] apiece to outscore any of their compatriots, but perhaps the value lies with someone from the middle-order. The aptitude of Pietersen ([4.3]) and Collingwood ([6.6]) for Caribbean pitches has been noted already, the former's first-ball duck against South Africa notwithstanding. Eoin Morgan [7.2] is the coming thing in English cricket, but for this match his arrival will probably be delayed until at least three wickets have gone.

Dangerous floaters are more usually a topic of conversation on the Subcontinent, where the IPL has just finished. Kieron Pollard made a bit of a splash in India and, back home now, he will come in when the situation demands. He's a long shot at [9.2], but, given the nature of the pitches, perhaps the subtler crafts of Shivnarine Chanderpaul ([4.5]) or Ramnaresh Sarwan ([5.4]) will serve you better.

Opening Partnership

If captain Gayle rejoins Chanderpaul at the top of the West Indies batting order, their opening partnership will look a whole chunk more stable than England's, although, at the time of writing, it's not clear what price you might get for them to outscore Lumb and Kieswetter.

Trivia

Trivial to some, perhaps, but not to Kevin Pietersen: the England batsman's wife is expected to give birth any day now. The modern sportsman is only allowed to put his professionalism on hold when he's got a kid on the way and KP's taking full advantage of his opportunity. He's said he will even leg it to the airport mid-match if that's when the call comes through. That's (partly) why Collingwood's the pick in the Top England Batsman market.

Tobias Gourlay Says: Back Paul Collingwood at [6.6] to be Top England Batsman

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