A better balance of bat versus ball made for an improved spectacle and plenty of fun in the Caribbean and USA

After the golden ticker tape settled on the outfield at Kensington Oval on Saturday, Barbados was placed on a state of high alert. At the time of writing, Hurricane Beryl is barrelling towards the region and the early hours of Monday are when potentially “life-threatening” winds will be at their strongest.

The Met Office here has issued warnings of power outages, flash flooding and storm surges on the coast, while people are being urged to stock up on essential supplies and non-perishables. “It’s better to plan for the worst and pray for the best,” said the prime minister, Mia Mottley, her attention very much switched since delivering the T20 World Cup trophy at the final on Saturday.

• Bairstow, Foakes and Leach miss West Indies series start
• Surrey keeper Jamie Smith handed maiden Test call-up

The end of Jimmy Anderson’s remarkable Test career will also be the start of a new chapter – Bazball 2.0, perhaps – after England named a 14-man squad for the start of the forthcoming series against West Indies, with change very much afoot.

Out with the old, in with the new is the call from Rob Key, the men’s team director, having now settled the old wicketkeeping debate of Jonny Bairstow or Ben Foakes. The answer is the pair of them dropped after the 3-1 defeat by India this year with Surrey’s Jamie Smith, 23, handed a maiden Test call-up and the gloves.

• Team thrashed by India in T20 World Cup semi-final
• Coach believes he and captain Buttler should keep roles

Matthew Mott insists his leadership partnership with Jos Buttler has been “galvanised” and, given the chance to continue after England’s T20 World Cup mauling by India, believes the team will bounce back “bigger, ­badder and better”.

Having secured the trophy in Australia back in 2022, both Mott, the head coach, and Buttler, the captain, find themselves under pressure, with a lamentable 50-over World Cup defence in India last winter now followed by a spasmodic T20 campaign that saw only associate teams and West Indies beaten before a gory semi-final exit.