England: They have had the strangest of tournaments, where each of their five matches has resulted in a close finish. Sometimes the finish might have been too close for the mental well-being of their fans. The oddity of their results does not end there - they have somehow contrived to lose to Ireland and Bangladesh, while not doing so against India and South Africa. England's main problem throughout the World Cup has been that they haven't had a game where they have done well with both bat and ball. If one department has succeeded, the other has let it down. The batsmen did well against Netherlands, India and Ireland, while the bowlers came to the party only against South Africa. Against Bangladesh, neither the batters nor the bowlers did well throughout the innings.
Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower form amongst the more stable partnerships in world cricket, but somehow their team has displayed muddled thinking that is uncharacteristic of the captain-coach duo. Injuries have not helped England's cause, but given that they got back their best ODI batsman in Eoin Morgan only due to an injury, they cannot complain too much either. What England need now is a concerted effort from their full playing eleven to keep them alive in the World Cup. A minor concern that they will hope doesn't blow up into a major one was the stomach bug that Strauss and Swann contracted. Both, however, were expected to be fit in time for the match.
West Indies: In an anti-thesis of what England have done, they have won fairly comfortably against the minnows of Group B, but been rolled over by South Africa. While England may have been beaten by Ireland and Bangladesh, West Indies will be aware that it was at Chennai that England stopped the mighty South Africans, and that on a pitch that affords turn, Graeme Swann will be lethal. West Indies have the firepower in Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard, and the batting talent in Darren Bravo, to overcome England's bowlers. This has been a relatively quiet tournament for Gayle, while Pollard has been explosive and Bravo has looked sublime in patches.
Their bowling was a weak link coming into the tournament, but with Kemar Roach and Suleiman Benn coming into their own, that doesn't look as weak anymore. The West Indies have not touched the heights of the 70s and early 80s in terms of world domination, and though they aren't anywhere close to doing so now - under captain Darren Sammy the team seems to have acquired an extra layer of toughness coupled with a fierce desire to do well. They have several game-changers in their ranks, who every opposition in the world has to be wary of, and they will know that a win here will seal their quarter-finals berth. A loss here could mean a potentially tricky final match with India, and West Indies will want to avoid the nerves that such a match would entail.
Head to Head: There isn't much to separate the teams in overall records, with West Indies having won 41 and England 37 of the 87 matches that they have played in (9 no results). Rather surprisingly, in World Cups, England have won 4 out of 5 matches that they have played against West Indies. England though, would have gladly exchanged those four victories for that one match - because the match they lost to West Indies was the final of the 1979 World Cup.
Teams:
England : Matt Prior(w), Andrew Strauss(c), Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Eoin Morgan, Paul Collingwood, Michael Yardy, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Tim Bresnan, James Tredwell, Ajmal Shahzad, Luke Wright, Chris Tremlett
West Indies : Devon Smith, Chris Gayle, Darren Bravo(c), R Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Kieron Pollard, Darren Sammy, Devon Thomas(w), Sulieman Benn, Nikita Miller, Kemar Roach, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Kirk Edwards, Devendra Bishoo
