After a comfortable victory in the first ODI, England will be seeking a continuation of their run as they prepare to take on West Indies in the second match at The Oval on Tuesday.
West Indies will be looking to keep the three-match series alive by forcing their team on to the winning ways.
Ian Bell inspired England to a 116-run win with an equal career-best of 126 runs. His innings included 12 boundaries and one six.
With a tall total to defend, Tim Bresnan led the bowling attack with four wickets while James Anderson and Graeme Swann also chipped in with two wickets each. Captain Alastair Cook expressed overall satisfaction with the team’s efforts but his own start to the series was not as ideal, having been dismissed for a duck.
The other batsmen played around Bell to set up a commanding total as the team got off to a good start in the post-Kevin Pietersen era. Overall the team sees no major reason for changes.
For the West Indies, any hopes of a revival or change in fortunes were quickly brushed aside as England got on top of them.
They also suffered a blow prior to the start of the match when Chris Gayle’s much anticipated comeback was delayed due to a toe injury. His participation in the second match is also under doubt and the team management is willing to wait on him until before the toss to make a call on him.
Captain Darren Sammy expressed hope that his players can put up an improved showing than they did in the first match in order to produce better results. Of course they need to do both, bat and bowl much better than they have already done in the series.
The Oval is the venue for the match and potential rain interruption in the afternoon would mean the chasing side will keep an eye on the D/L par scores.