England win toss, bat against West Indies

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CHENNAI: England captain Andrew Strauss won the toss and elected to bat in their crucial match against the West Indies in the World Cup Group A here at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Thursday.

England, who badly need to win the match to stay in the hunt for a quarter-final place, made three changes bringing in Chris Tremlett, Luke Wright and James Tredwell for James Anderson, Paul Collingwood and Ajmal Shahzad.

West Indies also effected a couple of changes with Chris Gayle replacing Shivnarine Chanderpaul and leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo making his debut in one-day internationals in place of Nikita Miller.

Teams:
England: Andrew Strauss (captain), Matt Prior, Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan, Ravi Bopara, Luke Wright, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, James Tredwell, Chris Tremlett.

West Indies: Darren Sammy (captain), Chris Gayle, Devon Smith, Darren Bravo, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Kieron Pollard, Devon Thomas, Andre Russell, Sulieman Benn, Devendra Bishoo, Kemar Roach.

Umpires: Asoka de Silva (SL) and Steve Davis (AUS), TV umpire: Shavir Tarapore (IND)
Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (SL)

Victory will keep England's hopes of making the quarter-finals alive but defeat will send their opponents, as well as India and Bangladesh, into the last eight.

West Indies have been bolstered for this match by the return of dynamic opening batsman Chris Gayle, who missed their 44-run win against Ireland last time out with an abdominal strain.

Unlike Group B, where only South Africa have so far assured qualification, all four qualifying spots in Group have been wrapped up by Australia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and New Zealand.