More than just a T20I as world champions take on World XI at Lord's

Overview

ICC World XI v Windies
Lord's, London
One-off T20I
Thursday 31 May; 18:00 local (17:00 GMT)

Sometimes, what happens as a result of a cricket match is more important than the match itself.

When ICC World XI face off against the Windies at Lord’s, it will be one such occasion. Much as the 40 overs of cricket out in the middle will be in focus, it’s the money earned from the match, which will go towards the refurbishment of five cricket stadia in the Caribbean that were damaged by Hurricanes Irma and Maria last year, that will be the bigger picture.

Cricketers have come together for good causes often in the past, as recently as when a World XI side went across to Lahore to play three Twenty20 Internationals in September in a bid to help top-drawer cricket return to Pakistan.

Keeping that in mind, it’s quite poignant that Shahid Afridi, a Pakistani legend, will lead the World XI side at Lord’s for the one-off T20I on Thursday, 31 May. Eoin Morgan, England’s limited-overs leader, was originally supposed to captain the side, but a broken finger sustained during a One-Day Cup match on 27 May has put him out of action, leading to Afridi being promoted.

The World XI side, in fact, has had more than a few changes since being formally announced.

Morgan was the first name announced, followed by those of Afridi, his compatriot Shoaib Malik and Thisara Perera, the Sri Lanka T20I captain. Next came Rashid Khan, the Afghan leg-spin superstar, and Bangladesh stalwarts Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal, followed by Indians Dinesh Karthik and Hardik Pandya and New Zealanders Luke Ronchi and Mitchell McClenaghan.

That completed the XI, but Shakib opted out because of personal reasons and was replaced by the exciting teenaged Nepal leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane. Pandya has also opted out since then, to be replaced by countrymate Mohammed Shami, who has also been swapped with Tymal Mills, while Sam Billings has filled in for Morgan. English cricketers Adil Rashid and Sam Curran have also been added to make the squad 13-men strong.

The squad still wears an extremely strong look. Iqbal, Billings, Karthik, Ronchi and Malik, with Afridi and Perera providing excellent options for a late burst, makes for a mouth-watering batting line-up. Karthik, Ronchi and Billings are all wicket-keeping candidates, while in McClenaghan, Curran and Mills, there’s a good pace department.

But the most exciting is perhaps the spin attack, or the leg-spin attack, with the two Rashids and Lamichhane all available for selection, not to forget Afridi himself. With Samuel Badree on the other side, this one could well be the greatest exhibition of T20 leg-spin bowling ever.

Whichever combination Afridi and Andy Flower, the World XI coach, decide to put out on the field should provide excellent competition to the defending ICC World T20 champions.

Carlos Brathwaite – remember the name! – who hit Ben Stokes for four successive sixes to win the Windies the last ICC World T20 at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens in April 2016, is the captain of the Windies side, and the squad has some fantastic T20 talent in their midst.

T20 stars Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, Evin Lewis and Badree are the big names in Brathwaite’s line-up, while in Marlon Samuels, Andre Fletcher, Rovman Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Kesrick Williams and others, there’s a lot of firepower.

Six of those players were a part of the XI that won the World T20 2016 final – that’s some quality.

It promises to be an exciting contest, of course. But as must be stressed, it’s about the cause. What happens on the ground, stays there. What happens after it will have the really big impact. And what better venue to have the special match than the Home of Cricket?

Key players Rashid Khan (ICC World XI): These days, wherever the 19-year-old leg-spinner plays, he becomes the big draw. It shouldn’t be any different at Lord’s where, despite the presence of a number of huge stars, Khan will be in focus. Most recently, in the Indian Premier League 2018, Khan picked up 21 wickets in 17 matches at an economy rate of 6.73. If that isn’t good form, what is?
Andre Russell (Windies): Like Khan, Russell was also in outstanding form in IPL 2018, the best of his efforts a smashing 88* in 36 balls early on in the script. The all-rounder picked up 13 wickets in the tournament and, even more impressively, scored 316 runs at a strike rate of 184.79. He should have a big say in the developments on Thursday night.

Conditions: It’s cool in London and it’s been raining a lot. The forecast for Thursday is of thundershowers with temperatures hovering around 20-degrees Celsius. The temperature won’t bother too many people, but everyone will be hoping the rain stays away.

Squads
**ICC World XI:**Shahid Afridi (c), Sam Billings, Sam Curran, Tamim Iqbal, Tymal Mills, Dinesh Karthik, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Lamichhane, Mitchell McClenaghan, Shoaib Malik, Thisara Perera, Luke Ronchi, Adil Rashid.
**Windies:**Carlos Brathwaite (c), Samuel Badree, Rayad Emrit, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Ashley Nurse, Keemo Paul, Rovman Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Kesrick Williams.