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Big Picture

It was in the 2015 World Cup that these teams last met – the first game of the tournament for both of them.West Indies’ decline as a Test force had slowly been established, but their limited-overs stocks were still highly rated. This was the team which, in its third match of the group stage, would put up 372 against Zimbabwe – all of those runs put together by Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels in a gargantuan second-wicket partnership, with the left-hander scoring a double-century. Before that game, they had reduced Pakistan to 1 for 4 in a chase of 311. Jerome Taylor took three of those wickets.These results would eventually help put West Indies through to the quarter-finals, but they came after a comprehensive loss against Ireland in that first game.It’s Ireland’s first fixture against a Test-playing nation since acquiring Test status. Not a lot has changed for them in the last two years. Ireland’s heroes from that match – in fact, their entire top seven – will almost definitely feature in the one-off ODI at Belfast on Wednesday.In contrast, captain Jason Holder has been the only constant for West Indies since the teams last met. Gayle, Samuels and Taylor, who led the batting and bowling charts for them in that World Cup, haven’t played together in an ODI since.Still, there is a circularity about this meeting. Both of them are on the cusp of a new dawn. Ireland have fought a long battle in achieving Test status while West Indies have shown hints of no longer being haunted by the ghosts of their past glory, picking up wins in each of their last three Test series. Ireland will soon be equipped with the experience of Graham Ford as head coach, while West Indies’ resurgence is being shepherded by the hard-talking Stuart Law. At the core, both teams are trying to carve new identities; they are teams on the ascension, even if they’re earmarked as the lower-tier population when the future of the game is discussed.Neither side has quite managed to dominate anyone in ODIs off late. In that sense, their reputations remain the same. But West Indies will enjoy their chance to feel like the stronger team before they head back to England. A win will simplify their requirement for direct qualification for the next World Cup: they’ll need to beat England 4-1.

Form guide

Ireland LLLLL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
West Indies LWLLW

In the spotlight

Paul Stirling made four fifties in a five-match series against Afghanistan earlier this year and even slipped in a six-wicket haul with improvised legspin. Then, he characteristically tapered off in the subsequent series. A couple of starts against England were followed by scores of 14, 0 and 0 in the tri-series against Bangladesh and New Zealand. Stirling is only 27, but he has been around for nine years and now is a time when Ireland need his experience to come to the fore.In the recently-concluded Caribbean Premier League, Evin Lewis was so explosive that his partner Chris Gayle was forced to drop anchor for St Kitts and Nevis Patriots. Lewis has two T20 international hundreds, and has twice made scores in the nineties in the format over the last month. He hasn’t shown anywhere near the same returns in ODIs yet, with 450 runs in 17 innings. This could be his chance to arrive.

Team news

Barry McCarthy and Craig Young have been ruled out with injuries, cutting Ireland’s seam options down to four. Boyd Rankin is a sure starter alongside Tim Murtagh. Kevin O’Brien provides a seam option too, so Ireland could be tempted to play legspinner Jacob Mulder alongside George Dockrell.Ireland (possible): 1 William Porterfield (capt), 2 Paul Stirling, 3 Ed Joyce, 4 Niall O’Brien, 5 Andy Balbirnie, 6 Kevin O’Brien, 7 Gary Wilson (wk), 8 Tim Murtagh, 9 George Dockrell, 10 Jacob Mulder/Peter Chase, 11 Boyd RankinRoston Chase has been dropped from the ODI squad and Kyle Hope has managed 41 runs in six Test innings so far in England. Those two spots are likely to be the ones Gayle and Samuels will occupy.West Indies (possible): 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Evin Lewis, 3 Marlon Samuels, 4 Shai Hope (wk), 5 Jason Mohammed, 6 Jason Holder (capt), 7 Rovman Powell, 8 Ashley Nurse, 9 Devendra Bishoo, 10 Jerome Taylor, 11 Kesrick Williams

Pitch and conditions

Belfast isn’t a high-scoring ground by modern standards – England’s 301 in 2006 remains the highest total. Scores in the range of 250 to 260 have been par at the venue. But there’s a high chance we will see a shortened game on Wednesday. The forecast hints at an overcast day with regular showers scattered throughout.

Stats and trivia

• West Indies have won four out of six games against Ireland. Their only game in Ireland was washed out
• Chris Gayle has the most centuries for a West Indian batsman – 22. He is also the third-highest run-scorer among active cricketers, behind MS Dhoni and AB de Villiers
• William Porterfield has made more runs in ODIs this year than any previous year. He has 558 runs in 12 innings, at an average of 46.50, with two hundreds and as many fifties

Elyse Villani plundered 71 off 39 balls•Getty Images

Loughborough Lightning produced an upset in the Kia Super League when they defeated the previously unbeaten Surrey Stars by 81 runs at The Oval.On the same pitch that Surrey had been knocked out of the quarter-finals of the NatWest T20 Blast the previous evening, the Surrey women were roundly outplayed, although they still progress to Finals Day at Hove on Friday.Surrey, needing 172, made a poor start when Tammy Beaumont was lbw to Kirsten Beams in the third over. And they suffered another big blow when their big-hitting South African opener Lizelle Lee, who had hit a 44-ball 72 in the previous game against Western Storm, was caught on the deep square-leg boundary for just one.When Marizanne Kapp lost her off stump to Ellyse Perry, Surrey were really up against it at 24 for 3 in the sixth over.Natalie Sciver showed some fight when she hit Georgia Elwiss for three successive fours. But then she played on to Sarah Glenn for 24 off 18, and when Sophia Dunkley was bowled by Beth Langston and Laura Marsh was caught at deep square-leg – the three wickets falling in three overs – it really was all over for Surrey at 65 for 7 in the 14th.Lightning, who had lost three of their previous four games, had elected to bat first and lost their first wicket to the fourth ball of the innings when Sarah Glenn skied Laura March to Rene Farrell at midwicket.But fine attack innings by first Elyse Villani and then Perry lifted them to a formidable 171 for 3.Villani hit ten fours and three sixes in her 39-ball 71, and then fellow Australian Perry took over with four fours and four sixes in her unbeaten 68 off 53 deliveries.Villani was particularly destructive at the top of the innings, with a strike rate of 182.05. She launched her innings by hitting Laura Marsh for a six and two fours in four deliveries, but her third boundary came after she was dropped just inside the rope.She reached her fifty when she jumped down the wicket to straight drive Alex Hartley for six, and then drove and reverse swept the next two balls for fours.Perry hit Sciver for two fours and two sixes in the penultimate over, which went for 22 runs.

Match facts

July 20, 2017
Start time 1030 local (0930 GMT)

Big picture

A week ago, when India went down to Australia by eight wickets, the odds in favour of the two teams facing each other a second time this World Cup were seemingly low. While Australia had sealed a semi-final berth at a canter, India’s fate was to be decided by a knock-out tie against New Zealand. In what turned out to be their most comprehensive victory in the tournament, a century from captain Mithali Raj, coupled with Veda Krishnamurthy’s 45-ball 70, marshalled India to their fourth semi-final appearance in ten editions and their first since 2005, when they finished runners-up.The volatility of India’s performances has had a lot to do with their openers. Smriti Mandhana, who got India’s campaign off to a flying start with a 90 and a hundred in consecutive games, hasn’t been able to score in excess of 15 in the four subsequent games. Punam Raut, too, has made two substantial scores – 86 against England and 106 against Australia – while not scoring a fifty in her other five innings. But the one factor that has remained constant for India is Raj’s resilience. While her strike rate hasn’t been the most enviable, Raj’s partnerships with Raut, Harmanpreet Kaur, Krishnamurthy and Deepti Sharma have been vital to India’s totals, as have been her 356 runs at an average of 50.85, that contributed to her becoming the first Indian to score 1000 runs in the World Cup.For Australia, though, consistency of the top order led to the side’s six wins out of seven games. With one century and four fifties between them, the left-handed opening pair of Beth Mooney and Nicole Bolton has not only negated the shenanigans of the new ball but also laid the foundation for the other batsmen to capitalise on thereafter. That they bat as deep as No.9 has given Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry the freedom to play with abandon.Equally instrumental to Australia’s fortunes has been the variety and efficacy of their spin troika – Jess Jonassen, Ashleigh Gardner and Kristen Beams – who have taken 27 wickets between them, while conceding less than four an over each. Despite the spectre of uncertainty around the protracted pay talks with their board, Australia’s performance on the field has been near-perfect, with their batting and bowling complementing each other perfectly even when they have been without Lanning.

Form guide

Australia WWLWW (completed matches, most recent first)
India WLLWW

In the spotlight

Through their seven league matches, Australia’s brooding confidence as defending champions translated, almost seamlessly, into their incarnation as practical frontrunners to win the World Cup. Much of that transition has, unsurprisingly, coincided, with Ellyse Perry‘s imperious run of form – on Saturday, she became the only batsman to make five successive ODI half-centuries on three separate occasions. Perry’s 58-ball 55 against South Africa was one of 20 fifties in her last 31 ODI innings. That run of form has earned her a career-best No. 3 spot among batsmen in the latest ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings. Her World Cup tally of 366 runs from seven innings is the second-highest in the tournament, and her returns with the ball – nine wickets and an economy rate of 4.62 – have helped her leapfrog West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor to become the top-ranked allrounder in the world for the third time in her career.Rajeshwari Gayakwad came in to bowl, for the first time in the tournament, in the 12th over of New Zealand’s chase. Even though the scorecard read 34 for 3, Sophie Devine and Amy Satterthwaite were still at the crease. By her fifth over, Gayakwad had dismissed both, and halfway into her eighth, she had wrapped up career-best returns, the best bowling figures in this tournament, and India’s semi-final spot. Gayakwad was Raj’s trump card against New Zealand, and will remain so against Australia. Unlike fellow left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht, whom she replaced in the side, Gayakwad bowls with genuine loop and guile, and could hold the key to slowing Australia down. When India last defeated Australia, in Hobart last year, Gayakwad bowled an important spell, taking two wickets including that of Lanning.Meg Lanning averages 109.33 in this Women’s World Cup•Getty Images

Team news

Lanning’s troublesome shoulder forced her to sit out a second game in the tournament during Australia’s last league match, against South Africa on Saturday. She was, however, seen taking throwdowns, albeit with a heavily strapped shoulder, as the team got its first training session underway in the County Ground. Chances of her not slotting back into the XI, and as captain, for the knockout clash are, therefore, slim.Despite Lanning’s inclusion, Australia may consider retaining stand-in captain Rachael Haynes, who has featured in only two games so far. Against South Africa, Haynes’ left-arm medium-pace accounted for two top-order wickets off the only two overs she has bowled since the 2013 World Cup. With two golden ducks and one half-century in her last four innings, Elyse Villani’s expensive part-time medium pace may not be enough for her to merit a selection ahead of fellow allrounder Haynes.Australia (possible) 1 Beth Mooney, 2 Nicole Bolton, 3 Meg Lanning (capt), 4 Ellyse Perry, 5 Elyse Villani, 6 Alex Blackwell , 7 Alyssa Healy (wk), 8 Ashleigh Gardner, 9 Jess Jonassen,10 Megan Schutt, 11 Kristen BeamsGiven the nature of the individual performances in their last group game, it is unlikely India will tweak their playing combination.India (possible) 1 Smriti Mandhana , 2 Punam Raut, 3 Mithali Raj (capt), 4 Harmanpreet Kaur, 5 Veda Krishnamurthy, 6 Deepti Sharma, 7 Shikha Pandey, 8 Sushma Verma, 9 Jhulan Goswami, 10 Rajeshwari Gayakwad, 11 Poonam Yadav

Pitch and conditions

Mithali Raj considers Derby India’s “home ground” and for good reason. They won each of their four round-robin fixtures at the venue, including the tournament opener against England and the semi-final qualification match against New Zealand. Australia, however, will be playing here for the first time in this World Cup.India’s undefeated run at the venue has largely been due to the spinners, who have capitalised on the two-paced nature of the pitch to take 24 out of India’s 33 wickets here.

Stats and trivia

• Perry’s average of 91.50 is second only to Lanning’s 109.33 in this World Cup.
• Three Australian bowlers – left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen, legspinner Kristen Beams and medium-pacer Megan Schutt – feature in the top ten on the wicket charts. India, on the contrary, have none.
• Among the India batsmen, Krishnamurthy boasts the best strike-rate, 110.86, trailed by Mandhana’s 95.76.
• Legspinner Poonam Yadav’s economy rate of 3.45 is the best among bowlers in the tournament who have sent down 20 overs or more. Jonassen’s 3.61 is the second-best.
• India have won only eight out of their 42 contests against Australia, the most recent win coming in 2016, steered by half-centuries from Raj and Mandhana and a three-for from Shikha Pandey.

Quotes

“I’m very impressed with the way India have played this tournament, from the very beginning in their match against England. They were very proactive as a team and I think they have a more aggressive approach to their batting”.
“To win against them requires us to give more than we have so far, against Australia it is important that we are the best we can be as players”.

ScorecardHamidullah Qadri, at 16 the youngest Derbyshire debutant in a Championship game, staged a dream finale as he took five wickets to lead Derbyshire to their first four day win since beating Leicestershire in July 2015 – 710 days ago.On a turning Cardiff pitch, where the spinners bowled 57.3 of the 69.3 overs in the second innings, and took 9 wickets, Glamorgan batsmen struggled throughout.Qadri, born in Kandahar in Afghanistan, returned figures of 5 for 60 on debut, including the final wicket, to help dismiss Glamorgan for 172. It was their first championship victory since Derbyshire defeated Northamptonshire at Wantage Road and completed one of the most heartwarming stories in Championship history.The Millennium child – the first player from the 21st century to make a Championship appearance – had done the trick.Even in Wales, land of the story-tellers, they might manage a tale or two.His excellent figures reflected how well he bowled. Kim Barnett, the former Derbyshire captain who made a surprise reappearance as head coach at the start of the season, and renowned as a good judge of a young cricketer, certainly made the correct choice when he first saw him perform and pronounced he was “ready for the first team”.Qadri said: “It was an honour to be asked to lead the team off, especially as it was my debut and we hadn’t won for two years. I haven’t played on a turning pitch for some time, and I took every opportunity to back my skills. I know that I am good enough to play without fear, and I can’t wait for my next game.DerbyshireCCC

He is now looking forward to meeting Imran Tahir, one of the leading legspinners of the past decade, who joins Derbyshire for the remainder of the season.”He is world class, and he will be able to teach me a lot, although I must thank Jeevan Mendis, who was very supportive during the game, and it was fitting he took the final catch off my bowling in his last game of the club,” Qadri said. “I took the game in my stride, and,if selected, will look forward to the next game at Chesterfield, where I have taken 2 five fors.”Qadri, who plays for the Alvaston and Boulton club, where former Derbyshire batsman Steve Stubbings is the captain, was well supported by Mendis, the Sri Lankan allrounder in his farewell game, and the Derbyshire stalwart Wayne Madsen, an occasional off spinner who took two crucial wickets in mid-innings.Glamorgan had started the day on 0 for 1 and approached the start of the day with caution in the face of some tight bowing from the Derbyshire spinners.Only nine runs were added in 11.4 overs when the first wicket went down. Nightwatchman Timm van der Gugten was caught by an excellent running catch at midwicket by Luis Reece off Qadri.Owen Morgan was snaffled at slip and when Glamorgan’s leading run scorer Colin Ingram holed out at mid- on, the home team were struggling on 42 for 4.Nick Selman and Aneurin Donald consolidated,and added 50 for the fifth wicket, before Madsen, with the last ball of his first over, had Donald caught at short leg by Alex Hughes who had previously dropped three chances in that position: Derbyshire;s hopes flared again.Two overs later, Madsen took his second wicket when Selman,who made a patient 43 from 122 balls, was stumped down the leg side after the bowler had seen him advancing down the pitch.After Selman and Donald’s partnership, Glamorgan had recognised batsmen left, but Andrew Salter and Graham Wagg were both dismissed by Qadri. Salter was LBW sweeping, while Wagg was not happy to have been given out caught down the leg side, when replays suggested the ball came off his chest.Marchant De Lange threatened with a few lusty blows, before he was needlessly run out, and Chris Cooke, who never looked in any trouble, was left stranded on 39 not out, when Michael Hogan chipped Qadri to mid wicket. It was the perfect conclusion to one of the most remarkable debuts in the history of the Championship,

Kent have signed New Zealand fast bowler Adam Milne who will take up his stint after the Champions Trophy.ESPNcricinfo revealed that Milne had been in talks about a deal for the NatWest Blast and he will also be available for County Championship cricket in a significant boost to Kent’s bowling attack.Milne, 25, recently played his first international in more than a year, against Ireland, during the tri-series in Dublin having completed his season at the IPL where he made four appearances for Royal Challengers Bangalore.He was recalled to New Zealand’s squad for the Champions Trophy following a series of injuries which sidelined him from all cricket for almost a year.The condensed nature of county cricket, particularly now the four-day game is part of the deal, will be a challenge for Milne but he is excited by the prospect.”I’m delighted to be joining Kent and working with such a talented squad pushing for promotion,” he said. “The County Championship is one of the best first-class competitions in the world and I’m looking forward to getting stuck in and taking some wickets. I also can’t wait to experience the atmosphere at The Spitfire Ground in the NatWest T20 Blast.”Kent’s chairman of cricket Graham Johnson said: “Adam is capable of bowling in excess of 90mph and will add even more penetration to our attack in red-ball and white-ball cricket.”It’s a long season so we will need to rotate the bowlers and we hope Adam’s arrival will add impetus with the ball.”

Mohammed Shami and Rohit Sharma have made their way to India’s Champions Trophy squad after injury-forced breaks from ODI cricket. In the absence of the injured KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan was chosen as Rohit’s opening partner, with Ajinkya Rahane expected to fill in in case of loss of form or fitness.The big debate for the selectors was between a third specialist spinner and an extra batsman, with Shami making it four specialist quicks to go with Hardik Pandya as the seaming allrounder. They eventually went for the extra batsman, which meant left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav missed out narrowly.Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin were the two specialist spinners even though Ashwin has not provided his match fitness – he missed the IPL because of a sports hernia and other wear and tear from a long home season. Chairman of selectors MSK Prasad said Ashwin’s case was different to some others, who had to prove match fitness after dropping out of the national team with injuries.India squad for Champions Trophy•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Players on standby

• Suresh Raina

• Rishabh Pant

• Dinesh Karthik

• Kuldeep Yadav

• Shardul Thakur

“As far as Ashwin is concerned, it was not exactly a serious injury,” Prasad said. “In fact, his franchise was magnanimous enough in accepting our request to rest him. Rest is all that was required for Ashwin. In the last international match, he represented India [in the Dharamsala Test]. That shows he was not totally unfit. He was not like the others who underwent surgery and were going through rehabilitation.”Fitness has not been the only concern around Ashwin, though. He conceded 188 runs in 27 overs in the three-ODI series against England, his last limited-overs assignment. In the previous ODI series that he played, in Australia in early 2016, Ashwin was dropped after two matches. Prasad was asked if concerns around Ashwin’s form had made them deliberate over the need for an extra spinner.”It is not that Ashwin is out of form,” Prasad said. “It is not because of Ashwin’s form that we considered Kuldeep. We considered Kuldeep because of his quality. He narrowly missed out.” Prasad said Ashwin had been used sparingly in limited-overs cricket to save him for the Champions Trophy.With Yuvraj Singh and Kedar Jadhav capable of bowling part-time spin, the selectors were satisfied with just the two spinners. Instead they went for the extra quick to go with Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.Shami last played ODI cricket in an attempt to win an ICC Trophy, and now he is back with the same goal ahead of him. The 26-year old was India’s best bowler in the 2015 World Cup but since thenm chronic leg injuries have put a halt to his 50-over career. He proved his match fitness through two Vijay Hazare Trophy matches for Bengal and five IPL games for Delhi Daredevils.”Two years is a long time,” Shami said. “After the injury, I have worked on my strength and my fitness. I have lost weight. I hope to continue from where I left off. It is good that I will get seven-eight IPL matches before I make my return to international cricket.”Rohit, too, has proved his match fitness through the IPL, captaining Mumbai Indians in all their matches so far. He had spent five months nursing a thigh injury, which had “scared him” until he had met with doctors and received clarification.MS Dhoni was the only specialist wicketkeeper in the squad, with the selectors resisting the temptation of going for the youngster Rishabh Pant, who has followed up a superb first-class season with IPL performances that have demanded the attention of the world. Prasad said he still considered Dhoni the best glovesman in the world, but also asked Pant to not feel disheartened because he was ‘one for the future’.Should there be an injury to Dhoni or anyone else, India have named five players as standby, which includes two wicketkeepers, Pant and Dinesh Karthik. Like Pant, Kuldeep made it to the list of standby players as another one ‘for the future’. Fast bowler Shardul Thakur, and Suresh Raina were the others asked to report to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore. The BCCI will proceed with their visa applications to the UK in case quick replacements are needed later.India begin their tournament against Pakistan on June 4 at Edgbaston, then play Sri Lanka on June 8 and South Africa on June 11.

Cricket South Africa is likely to have the ministerial ban on hosting or bidding for major events lifted after meeting with transformation targets this season. The sanction was placed on CSA last April by the sports minister after an annual transformation report found that they had failed to meet targets. CSA has since introduced and implemented targets, and will present next month numbers that exceed expectations.When CSA announced their intentions in September, they committed, over the course of a season, to playing a minimum average of six players of colour in a starting XI (54%) of whom at least two (18%) would be black African. That meant that instead of imposing a stipulated number of players of colour that needed to take the field in each match, CSA gave themselves room to be flexible. Over the 29 international matches played between September and March, South Africa have fielded 176 – or 55.1% – players of colour of whom 61 (19.1%) are black African. The maximum number of players of colour in a single match in the 2016-17 season was seven with as many as four black Africans featuring in the ODI against Ireland and two of the three T20s against Sri Lanka.Rather than a colour by numbers exercise, under Haroon Lorgat in particular, CSA have embraced transformation as a way to access black Africans, who form a majority of the country’s population, and to turn cricket into a more inclusive game. Coach Russell Domingo said he can see how the policy has worked.”I sit and watch game at Centurion and the demographics of our support base seems so different,” he said. “It’s fantastic to see people of different races and cultures supporting the Proteas. To be part of that is something special.”Kagiso Rabada and Temba Bavuma have become key members of South Africa’s Test team•AFP

He had particular praise for the country’s only black African batsman, Temba Bavuma, who did not add to his century count this season but has established himself as key to the Test middle order. “I’ve just had a long chat with Temba and while his numbers might not be spectacular at this stage of his career, he won us a Test match in Hobart, he’s won a Test match in Wellington, and he’s played a massive part in winning a Test match in Perth. He’s made some unbelievably important innings at crucial times.”I compare him to Ashwell Prince, who used to get a lot of runs when we were 100 for 5 and very few runs when we were 300 for 5, and finding that sort of balance and that sort of intensity when he’s batting and things are tight and when things are good as well. There’s still a lot of learning for him to do but he’s going to be a special player for South Africa. Kagiso [Rabada] is already a champion. He has achieved some wonderful things. It’s great to be part of this new generation of players. They’re all conducting themselves in a fantastic way.”Rabada is among those who have spoken about the responsibility they feel as flagbearers for a generation of change. “We’ve got lots of talent coming up and it’s a lot more open and diverse,” he said in an interview earlier this year.Should the ministry lift its sanction, it could potentially clear the way for South Africa to host a World T20 – an edition of the tournament in 2018 has been talked about among Full Members for some time but has not been inked into the international calendar as yet. The ministry’s ban was also imposed on rugby, netball and athletics but already they have thrown support behind SA Rugby’s bid for the 2023 Rugby World Cup, which bodes well for the sanction being lifted.

Alex Hales is set to join England’s ODI tour of the Caribbean.Hales, who missed out on selection for the original squad after sustaining a broken bone in his right hand during the ODI series in India, is due to have a scan on the hand on February 27. If that scan shows nothing untoward – as is expected – he will fly out to join the squad in Antigua next week.Even if the scan suggests he is not quite ready for a return to action, it is likely that Hales will continue his rehab with the squad in Antigua and Barbados.Hales scored three ODI centuries in 2016, including an England-record 171 against Pakistan at his home ground of Trent Bridge.His place in India was taken by Sam Billings, who is also expected to open in the tour’s two warm-up matches in St Kitts. That could leave the tour management with a tricky decision over whether to recall Hales, who will not have played since January 19, for the ODIs or allow Billings the opportunity to stake his claim on the position. The first ODI takes place on March 3.The management are certainly keen to find a way into the side for Billings. But with Hales having formed a strong opening partnership with Jason Roy, it may well be that Billings requires an especially persuasive performance in the warm-ups to win a longer stay in the side.They have a similarly tough decision to make about Jonny Bairstow. He was called into the side in place of the rested Joe Root for the final ODI in India and responded with a half-century. But, with Root back and England’s middle-order of Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes looking relatively settled (though each of them will float up and down the order as the situation demands), Bairstow finds himself battling for selection once more.He has, at least, excellent memories of the St Kitts ground where England begin this tour. It was here, almost two years ago, that he unveiled his new stance and back-lift for the first time. Drafted into a weak-looking St Kitts Invitational XI to provide tougher opposition for England, he responded with 98 against an attack that included James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes. He has subsequently averaged 63.36 in first-class cricket with 25 scores of 50 or more in 55 completed innings.”Yes, it all started here,” Bairstow said as he looked out across the ground on Thursday. “Well, here and in the indoor nets at Headingley.”But match-wise this was the first place I took the leap and tried something different and I’ve stuck with it. It was the first time with my new technique and I scored 95 [actually 98]. I ended up playing against the lads and things kicked on from there. So I’ve good memories of coming back here.”Such competition for places bodes well for an England team with realistic hopes of winning their first global ODI title when the Champions Trophy takes place later this year.”We know if we put the performances together like we’ve been doing 80-90 percent of the time, there’s no reason why we can’t go and win the Champions Trophy and a World Cup,” Bairstow said. “I firmly believe we’re a special squad.”I don’t know how I nail a place in the team. I’ve said as long as I can get into that XI, I don’t care where I bat. I’d like to think the form I’ve been in over the last 18 months is strong enough to push my case.”Meanwhile, Paul Collingwood is with the squad in the role of fielding coach. The Durham captain, still playing at 40 years of age, was captain of the only England men’s team to have so far won a global limited-overs tournament (the World T20 in 2010), and joins up with Graham Thorpe (batting coach) and Paul Farbrace, who assumes the role of head coach from the rested Trevor Bayliss.Jonny Bairstow was speaking on behalf of Waitrose, official team sponsor of the England cricket teams.George Dobell is a senior correspondent at ESPNcricinfo. He will be covering England’s tour of the Caribbean in association with Smile Group Travel