|
MUMBAI:
ESPN STAR Sports, Asia's number one sports broadcaster, will telecast
LIVE and EXCLUSIVE, the NPower series between West Indies and England
starting May 17, 2007. The two cricketing giants will kick off the
series with four Test matches followed by two Twenty20 matches and
three ODIs.
The
tour of England is the perfect opportunity for West Indies to take
a fresh step forward in the post Brian Lara era. Both teams are
under pressure after a disastrous World Cup campaign and would be
looking to regain past glory as they square off at Lord's for the
first Test. Andrew Strauss will captain England in the first Test
against West Indies at Lord's as Michael Vaughan has failed to recover
from a broken finger in time.
West
Indies' last two tours of England have ended in thumping series
defeats; they went down 3-1 in 2000 despite leading the series after
the first Test at Edgbaston, while in 2004; they were whitewashed
4-0. Under the new captain, Ramnaresh Sarwan, the Caribbean side
shall hope to make a difference. Ramnaresh will lean heavily on
the likes of Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul who have had
past success against the English side. The squad also includes youngsters
like Ravi Rampaul, Darren Sammy and Runako Morton, giving Sarwan
a good mix of experience and youth.
England
will be banking on their fast bowling trio of Steve Harmison, Matthew
Hoggard and Andrew Flintoff to dislodge the Caribbean batsmen. The
series is all set to be a roller coaster with both teams matching
each other on player to player basis. The test series will be followed
by two Twenty20 Internationals and three ODI series.
|
