England hope that the return of Andrew Flintoff will spark a revival in the third one-day international against West Indies at Kensington Oval on Friday. Flintoff is set to return to the England line-up from his latest injury - a hip strain - for a match that could ultimately swing the series decisively.
The five-match series is tied 1-1 after a double-header in Guyana, where England fortuitously won the opening game last Friday, when West Indies accepted bad light thinking they were ahead on the Duckworth-Lewis tables. But the home team recovered from the miscalculation from their coach John Dyson to win the second match last Sunday by 21 runs.
A victory would give tourists the lead in the series again, and could jump-start the process of a strong finish to their tour of the Caribbean which has been nothing short of disappointing. The slice of fortune England got at the Guyana National Stadium was their first victory in an international match on their travels this winter which also included a trip to India.
But England will be looking to Flintoff, their talismanic all-rounder, for inspiration. Batting has been Englands strength for most of the trip, although the debacle in Jamaica where they were bowled out for their third lowest Test total of 51 comes to mind, and they again misfired in the second ODI. Bowling will be the key for an England victory, and Flintoffs return would hand skipper Andrew Strauss a potent weapon.
It could also spell the end of the road for Steve Harmison, following two modest spells in Guyana, but it would not be surprising to see either James Anderson or Stuart Broad suffer at the hands of the selectors.
For West Indies, they have brought Dale Richards and Ravi Rampaul in to their squad to shore up two critical areas. Richards, an uncapped opening batsman, had been chosen in the squad for the first Test between the two sides almost two months ago in Jamaica, but had to withdraw with a foot injury.
He replaces Devon Smith, who did not play in either of the first two ODIs, and its hard to see him fitting into the batting at this time, since Lendl Simmons has slotted into the position and offers West Indies another bowling option. Rampaul played the last of his 30 ODIs against South Africa last year in Johannesburg, but he has had a chequered career in which has been badly affected by injury.
He replaces Daren Powell, who has took only six wickets in the preceding five-Test series at nearly 70 apiece, and took one for 27 from five overs in the first ODI before being dropped for the second match.
West Indies (from): Chris Gayle (captain), Lionel Baker, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Fidel Edwards, Nikita Miller, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin,Ravi Rampaul, Dale Richards, Darren Sammy, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lendl Simmons England (from): Andrew Strauss (captain), James Anderson, Gareth Batty, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Steve Davies, Andrew Flintoff, Steve Harmison, Amjad Khan, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior, Adil Rashid, Owais Shah.