Bring down the power: Windies, England focus on six-hitting

Captain Rovman Powell and his West Indies team will look to land the big scalp of reigning International Cricket Council (ICC) Twenty/20 World Cup champions England when they go after a series-clinching third win at the National Cricket Stadium in Grenada on Saturday.

The Windies have jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the Twenty/20 international (T20I) series against the English, after a four-wicket win in the first match and a ten-run victory in the second.

In both games, Powell's team have flexed their collective muscles – hitting 27 sixes to England's 14. Powell has led from the front, striking seven sixes in the first two matches as he notched 31 not out in the first game and a brutal fifty in the second match. On Thursday, Powell hit Sam Curran for four sixes in a game-changing 16th over as he and man-of-the-match, Brandon King, pushed WI to a competitive score of 176 for seven.

Powell said the Windies power game is no secret, but he and his teammates want to take it up a notch as they look towards the T20 World Cup which will be jointly hosted by the West Indies and the US from June 4.

"We try to keep working at our power game to see if we can be a touch better than the world in terms of the power game, because they are a lot better than us when it comes to getting singles," Powell said, following Thursday's second T20.

"We have to mix the power game with a little bit of smarts and try to bat the spinners properly."

On the back of respective T20 series victories over South Africa and India in March and August, Powell said WI "are in a good space."

"There are still some areas we need to work on as a team but we are trying to do that."

In the first two T20s against England, WI suffered mini-collapses which had to be curtailed by partnerships involving Powell.

The WI skipper said, "(I will like to see) batters batting for longer periods. It is also about trying to see which combinations work."

As Powell and the men in maroon look to refine their power game, opposing captain Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali and the visitors are trying to find ways to clamp down on the aggressive WI batting.

Speaking to the media, Ali said England needed to be "a little bit smarter and braver" against the Caribbean team.

"There is still a bit of time to go before the (T20) World Cup. We need to get a few things right and get the confidence back as a side. We need to grab those moments and recognise those moments straight away."

Ali said there have been positive signs for England, and he pointed to the performances of leg-spinner Adil Rashid who took his 100th T20I wicket in the first match.

"It is disappointing because we want to start winning. I actually thought we played well (in the second T20I) and they smashed two or three really big overs which took the game away from us."