England vs West Indies Test series / Wisden Trophy 2020 – 3rd Test
3rd Test – the decider / another Behind closed Door Match:
English and West Indian teams are going to play the third and decider Test of the series of three Test matches at the Old Trafford, Manchester on July 24th 2020, same venue of the previous test.
West Indies Tour of England History:
This is going to be the thirty eighth bilateral series between the teams. England won the series 14 times. Whereas West Indies won the series 17 times, and 6 times the series were drawn. The West Indies team has a chance to win for the 18th time as the series is 1-1, the final test is the decider.
When touring England with the West Indies team, then, the host has the upper hand. Out of 21 Test series, the home side won eleven times and the visitors won eight times only, the remaining two were resulted into draws. Last time the host received a series defeat by the opponent was in 1988. After that, the series was played eight times, in which two series were resulted into draw and six were in favor of the host. The visitors have a chance to win the series after 32 years, as well completed the series with out defeat after 25 years.
The teams completed 159 meetings in the longest cricket format. Out of them, the host won 50 times and lost 58 times, with 51 matches without any result, one was abandoned without a toss and one was cancelled.
On the soil of England, the teams faced each other 88 times. Out of them, the English team won 35 times, and the West Indies team won 31 times with 22 draw games.
Victory brings points:
The series is the comparison between the forth rank team (England) and Eighth rank team (West Indies) team. The host is way ahead of visitors.
The host has no chance to increase the points for the team, but the team could manage to not losing points and for that, the team needs to win the remaining match. Either drawing the match or loosing it, the team will lose points.
On the other hand, the visitors are in the almost secure position as the team will either lose just a point or achieve them from here, also through winning series, the team will have chance to improve the position and could reach up to the one rank ahead.
Venue Weather:
Weather forecast of Manchester shows cloudy for the first day but thunderstorm on the second day and rain on the remaining days, so, the rain would hit the match, badly as per the weather shows currently. The precipitation percentage would be nearly 50% on last three days, but 90% on the second day. The temperature would be around 20 degree Celsius. The wind would be around 15 kmph throughout the match, except first day.
Toss and Pitch:
Teams preferred to bat first after winning the toss, which happened 71 times out of 80 matches, and the selection favored the teams and the teams won 29 the times after selecting the first batting and lost just 14 times. On the other hand, the team chose to field first after winning the toss just 9 times and never won the match, with two lost and remaining draws.
Particularly, for England, the team won the toss 38 times out of 79 times, and the teams won the 17 times with the same draws. The team lost the matches only for times after winning the toss, and last time the team lost in 1993, 27 years ago.
The first batting team won the matches 31 times, whereas, the teams, who batted second, won the match only 14 times, yet.
The lowest defended total was 124, though it was in 1902. On the other hand, the highest successful chase is 294 on the ground.
The first inning lowest total was 95, though it was in 1884, and the highest total was 656 (declared) runs, again it was in 1964. For the second inning, the lowest total was 58 (completed) in 1952, whereas the highest was 611 runs in 1964. The lowest total was 70 (completed) in 1888, whereas the highest was 438 (declared) runs in 2000 for the third inning. For the fourth inning, the lowest total was 120 (completed innings) in 1902, whereas the highest was 402 runs in 1981.
The batting average of the first innings is 35.94 and 28.54 is for the second innings, whereas 29.38 is for third inning and 28.28 for the fourth inning.
History Between the Teams:
Both the teams faced each other on the venue 16 times, from which, the host won the match 7 times and lost 5 times with 4 draws. Last time, Visitors won the match at the venue in 1988. In fact, the visiting team will visit the place after 13 years.
Test History at Venue:
The home side has a good record at the venue. The team won 29 times out of 79 encounters and lost 15 times with 35 draws.
Tentative XI for both the Teams:
England:
The home side could pick the pacers and possibly include J. Archer, as the pitch favors seamers in previously played games, but spinners would be handy in the fourth inning as well.
England Eleven: R. Burns, D. Sibley, J. Root, O. Pope. Z. Crawley, B. Stokes, J. Butler, S. Curren, J. Archer, D. Bess, C. Woakes / S. Broad.
West Indies:
The visitors would prefer to go unchanged or might introduce N. Bonner and/or C. Holder in place of J. Campbell and A. Joseph.
West Indies Eleven: K. Brathwaite, N. Bonner / J. Campbell, S. Brooks, S. Hope, J. Blackwood, R. Chase, S. Dowrich, J. Holder, C. Holder / A. Joseph, S. Gabriel, K. Roach.
