England's T20 side have the opportunity to lift the gloom following the Ashes debacle when they start a five-match series against West Indies on Saturday.

The Test side were hammered 4-0 by Australia and only avoided a whitewash after clinging on for a draw in a rain-affected match at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

As a huge inquest into that pitiful failure Down Under begun, the T20I squad was preparing to lock horns with the Windies in the Caribbean, where Paul Collingwood is standing in for Chris Silverwood as head coach.

England top the rankings, but missed out on T20 World Cup glory when they were beaten by New Zealand at the semi-final stage last November.

West Indies never looked like retaining the trophy in the United Arab Emirates, losing four and drawing one of their five matches.

Things went from bad to worse for the Windies when they were whitewashed 3-0 in Pakistan, before losing an ODI series to Ireland 2-1 on home soil.

The tourists are not at full strength so soon after the Ashes, but Eoin Morgan still has a strong squad - with a mix of new faces and experienced heads - as they build towards another T20 World Cup in Australia this year.

England have won four consecutive T20Is versus the struggling Windies, who have lost eight of their past nine matches in the shortest format ahead of the opening match of the series at Kensington Oval,

We pick out some of the standout performers who could light up the series ahead of the opener in Bridgetown, Barbados.

Is this the last time these two sides share a smile? #WIvENG pic.twitter.com/B3PAwgGcpW
— Windies Cricket (@windiescricket) January 21, 2022

Living up to the hype, Roy ready to fire

England fell short in their mission to become 50-over and T20I world champions, but they were outstanding before an expensive over from Chris Jordan swung the semi-final in the Black Caps' favour.

Liam Livingstone showed his prowess with the ball in that loss to the Windies and the clean-striking all-rounder should have a huge part to play in England's bid to dethrone Australia later this year.

Livingstone can put on a show in the Caribbean and there could be fireworks from Jason Roy, who blasted 115 from only 47 balls in a warm-up game against a Barbados Cricket Association President's XI this week.

Rebuilding job for Windies

West Indies were bowled out for only 55 in their defeat to England at the T20 World Cup, with Adil Rashid taking incredible figures of 4-2.

That just about summed up their tournament and they must turn the corner under the leadership of Kieron Pollard, who retained the captaincy.

Nicholas Pooran is set to play in his 50th T20I this weekend and the vice-captain is among the experienced players Pollard will need to step up.