Windies vs England: Visitors wear black armbands in the memory of Ruth Strauss

The last few weeks have been pretty devastating for former English Cricket Board director Andrew Strauss, who lost his wife Ruth Strauss. Ruth, 46, was battling with a rare lung cancer, took her final breath in December succumbing to her illness. The couple has two kids Sam and Luca.

The former English captain had stepped down from his ECB director role previously in October 2018 when Ruth was diagnosed with cancer. He had represented England in 100 Tests and 127 ODIs before playing a crucial role in the side’s meteoric rise in the last few years.

As England came on field for the first time after this incident, the cricketers wore black armbands as a mark of respect for the deceased. The 2010 ICC World T20 champions are in the Caribbean Islands, the place where they lifted their only ICC trophy, for 3 Tests, 5 ODIs and 3 T20Is.

Here’s what the ECB tweeted.

The players are wearing black armbands on Day 1 in memory of Ruth Strauss. pic.twitter.com/eW7Ws6RM9r

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) January 23, 2019

England hungry for more away success

After a historic clean sweep in Sri Lanka, the English are craving for more success outside Britain. The Lankan side they faced might not have been the most formidable ones when compared to the side they came across a decade ago, but to have stamped their authority with such ferocity is astounding.

They will be fancying their chances of repeating the same result in the Caribbean Islands as well. The Windies are coming into this series after losing the ODI and Test series to Bangladesh in the subcontinent. They clearly are a country mile away from their best and to defeat Joe Root’s side would take some doing.

The first Test between the sides is already underway with the hosts opting to bat first. Both sides have a pretty even head-to-head record in the longest format, with Windies winning 55 and England winning 48 among the 154 Tests. 51 of these fixtures ended in a stalemate.

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