England and West Indies will go head to head in the final of ICC T20 World Cup 2016 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday. Both sides have had similar paths to the final; both teams won three of their four league matches and successfully chased in their respective semi-finals. There is another similarity between the teams: they both have all-rounders galore in their line-up. However, while West Indies bat deep, England take it a step further by having a T20 centurion bat at No. 9 or 10. Full Cricket Score: England vs West Indies, T20 World Cup 2016, Final at Kolkata
If one looks at the England squad it is apparent that there are virtually no rank tail-enders in the side barring Reece Topley. Apart from the outright batsmen in the squad, players like Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, David Willey, Liam Plunkett, and Chris Jordan boast of First-Class batting averages of over 20. In fact, arranging them in descending order of First-Class batting average, we see some rather startling numbers: Moeen (37.21), Rashid (35.25), Stokes (34.75), Willey (28.5), Plunkett (23.87), and Jordan (21.78). Even the yet-uncapped all-rounder Liam Dawson possesses a First-Class average of 34.20. READ: England vs West Indies, T20 World Cup 2016, Final at Kolkata: David Willey vs Chris Gayle and other key battles
What this means is that the likes of Jason Roy, Alex Hales, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan, and Jos Buttler have the right to blast their way at the top of the order without having to worry about their lower-order teammates. Contrast that to India’s plight, where the batting started and ended with Virat Kohli, and it is no wonder that England are in the final and India are not. READ: Life comes a full circle for ‘New’ England
West Indies have an imposing batting order as well, with players such as Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Sammy, Carlos Brathwaite and Jason Holder in the side. However, their batting ends by No. 9, after which come the two spinners Samuel Badree and Sulieman Benn, neither of whom inspire confidence. Another problem with West Indies is that their top order is not as reliable as England’s. Barring Chris Gayle and Lendl Simmons, the West Indians do not possess truly bankable T20 batsmen in the top six. READ: Do West Indies after their group stage win against England have the edge?
Johnson Charles fired against India, but was largely hit-and-miss in the other matches. Marlon Samuels has got a couple of starts but has not kicked on to make a match-winning score yet. Denesh Ramdin has looked completely out of sorts as well. Bravo has failed to make a sizeable contribution with the bat, while Sammy has scored 6 runs in 2 innings so far in this tournament. Russell and Brathwaite are the only two all-rounders in the lower-order who have shone with the bat in the tournament so far. READ: Do West Indies after their group stage win against England have the edge?
On the other hand, the England top order has been in excellent form. Roy has been getting off to explosive starts, while Root and Buttler have been the backbones of the middle order. Eoin Morgan and Hales have not managed to find their groove yet, but the others have made up for it. Moeen and Willey have shared a match-winning partnership already in the tournament. Stokes has not done much by way of run-making, but what runs he has managed so far have come at a strike rate of 172. Jordan has batted a couple of times without much success, but Rashid and Plunkett have not needed to face any deliveries between them yet. READ: Joe Root firmly asserts his place in modern batting mastery in T20 World Cup 2016
The two teams are evenly matched, but going by the length and potency of the batting line-ups, it would seem that England hold a slight edge. It could come down to which batting order can fire in the final, and England certainly enjoy the better, and longer, of those.
(Shiamak Unwalla, a reporter with CricketCountry, is an animal lover and comic, film and TV geek. A fast bowler at heart, he loves watching a good, low-scoring game of cricket. His Twitter handle is @ShiamakUnwalla)
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