England look to march on while West Indies aim to rebuild

After a small hiccup against South Africa, 2009 champions England bounced back in style winning two matches against Thailand and Pakistan. With momentum on their side, England are looking to take on West Indies on Sunday (Match 1).

The shift of venue from Perth to Canberra has done England a world of good, especially to skipper Heather Knight, who simply loves Manuka Oval. In the two innings in Canberra, she has scored 170 runs which included a sublime unbeaten 108 against Thailand. She has led from the front, often coming into bat at the power plays to lend solidarity to the England innings. Apart from Knight, only Natalie Sciver has looked good in the batting department. Their openers, Danielle Wyatt and Amy Jones, have collectively failed to provide starts. They have a luxury of pushing either Wyatt or Jones down the order and bring Tammy Beaumont up the order, but it remains to be seen if they do.

On the bowling front, veteran Anya Shrubsole has led well with seven wickets to her name. She also became just the third player to get to 100 wickets in T20Is. Yet again Shrubsole has stepped up in a World Cups and is leading England's attack. Apart from her, Sophie Ecclestone and Sarah Glenn have formed a deadly combination often bowling dot balls and putting the opposition teams under pressure. With the match scheduled to take place in Sydney, the spin duo will look keep their good form going against West Indies.

ALSO READ: Pakistan's 'Lady Diana' and her tryst with cricket

On the other hand, the 2016 champions West Indies are coming from a loss to Pakistan and need to pull up their socks if they want to challenge England. The Caribbean nation has looked scratchy in their two matches and their batting has been their biggest letdown. Barring skipper Stafaine Taylor, the others have looked mediocre, to say the least.

Deandra Dottin's return from injury has not been convincing with the allrounder looking short of match practice. With two matches to go against England and South Africa, West Indies need their batters to step up board to put some pressure on the opposition. The likes of Hayley Matthews, Lee-Ann Kirby and Dottin have to take more responsibility to give their bowlers something to bowl at.

England and West Indies have clashed four times with the latter winning three times, now it's good time to make it four and keep their World Cup hopes alive. 

Squads

England: Heather Knight (c), Anya Shrubsole, Danielle Wyatt, Tammy Beaumont, Katherine Brunt, Georgia Elwiss, Amy Jones (wk), Natalie Sciver, Lauren Winfield, Kate Cross, Fran Wilson, Sophie Ecclestone, Sarah Glenn, Freya Davies, Mady Villiers.

Pakistan: Javeria Khan (c), Aiman Anwer, Aliya Riaz, Anam Amin, Ayesha Naseem, Diana Baig, Fatima Sana, Iram Javed, Muneeba Ali, Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Nawaz (wk), Syeda Aroob Shah, Nahida Khan,