Spin twins Adil Rashid and Rehan Ahmed offer a beacon of hope as misfiring England seek to rediscover their form for T20 World Cup defence
England are planning to have their new spin twins at the heart of their world title defence next year as they grapple here with Caribbean conditions and West Indies’ brawny batting line-up.
The performances on Tuesday night of veteran Adil Rashid – bringing up centuries in both Twenty20 caps and wickets – and fellow wrist spinner Rehan Ahmed were isolated beacons in another gloomy display as England lost their ninth limited-overs international in 13 this winter.
Such has been the rise of Ahmed, 19, as a wicket-taking force – his three at Kensington Oval took his tally to eight in four appearances on this tour – that he has ousted vice-captain Moeen Ali from the side and is viewed as a key weapon, not only in attempts to fight back against a team that won the six count 14-6 in game one, but potentially for the World Cup back here in June.
‘It was great to see them operate together. Rehan’s strength of character shines through. He went for a few in his first over, but the way he came back, all credit to him. He’s been brilliant throughout this whole trip.
‘We wanted to see what it looked like, having two X-factor bowlers like that, especially out here on pitches that might spin,’ said captain Jos Buttler.
Adil Rashid and Rehan Ahmed were the bright spots in another gloomy England display
PROBABLE TEAMS FOR SECOND T20 MATCH
England: Buttler (capt/wkt), Salt, Jacks, Duckett, Brook, Livingstone, Curran, Woakes, Ahmed, Rashid, Topley
West Indies: Mayers, King, Hope, Pooran (wkt), Hetmyer, Powell (capt), Shepherd, Russell, Holder, Hosein, Joseph
‘We need to find out if it’s an option here before we get to the World Cup.’
Aside from their combined figures of 8-0-64-5, and another selfless effort of 40 from 20 balls from Phil Salt that powered the tourists out of the blocks, it was another directionless performance in Barbados that has left them playing catch-up as the five-match series moves to the spice island.
On his previous visit to St George’s four years ago, Buttler produced an astounding 77-ball 150 in a match featuring a record 46 sixes.
Form that his side could do with him rediscovering pronto against opposition who look a totally different proposition stocked with global T20 stars like Andre Russell, who returned from a two-year international exile to take the man of the match award in the series opener.
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