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.