Windiescricket.com
Defending champions, West Indies, will take on England in their first game of the International Cricket Council’s Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 at the Dubai International Stadium on Saturday, October 23, it was confirmed today as the ICC unveiled the complete schedule of the 16-team marquee event.
The two-time World Champions will look to get the defence of their title off to a winning start in what will be a re-match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2016 final at Eden Gardens, which saw them snatch the title from England thanks to a superb Man-of-the-Match display by Marlon Samuels and Carlos Brathwaite’s four consecutive sixes in the last over.
West Indies captain Kieron Pollard said:
“We are excited to begin defence of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup title later this year. T20 cricket is dynamic, and the international scene is highly competitive, with players constantly pushing the boundaries of innovation and we are expecting a spectacular event in the UAE and Oman.”
Pollard added:
“We have a particularly interesting Super 12 group, which sees us come up against Australia, England and South Africa. We can’t wait to get started! West Indian cricketers have always played an exciting brand of cricket and I am sure our fans in the Caribbean and all over the world are highly anticipating seeing us in action”.
West Indies are the only team to win the ICC T20 World Cup twice. They did so in 2012 against Sri Lanka at the Premadasa in Colombo and four years later against England in Kolkata. On both occasions, Daren Sammy was the captain. They also reached the semi-finals on two other occasions – in 2009 in England and 2014 in Bangladesh.
West Indies Match Schedule
October 23: v England at Dubai (6 pm/10 am Eastern Caribbean/9 am Jamaica)
October 26: v South Africa at Dubai (2 pm/6 am Eastern Caribbean/5 am Jamaica)
October 29: v B2 at Sharjah (2 pm/8 am Eastern Caribbean/7 am Jamaica)
November 4: v A1, at Abu Dhabi (6 pm/10 am Eastern Caribbean/9 am Jamaica)
November 6: v Australia at Abu Dhabi (2 pm/6 am Eastern Caribbean/5 am Jamaica)
The groupings:
Round 1
Group A: Sri Lanka, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Namibia
Group B: Bangladesh, Scotland, Papua New Guinea, and Oman
(Top two teams from each group advance to Super 12s)
Super 12s
Group 1: England, Australia, South Africa, West Indies, A1 and B2.
Group 2: India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan, A2, and B1.
(Top two teams from each group advance to the semi-finals)
Semi-finals
November 10: Group 1 winner v Group 1 second at Abu Dhabi (6 pm/10 am Eastern Caribbean/9 am Jamaica)
November 11: Group B winner v Group A second at Dubai (6 pm/10 am Eastern Caribbean/9 am Jamaica)
FINAL
November 14: Final at Dubai (6 pm/10 am Eastern Caribbean/9 am Jamaica)
END