England cruised to victory in the opening ODI in the West Indies on Wednesday, and on Friday they can take complete control of the series when the two sides head back to the Kensington Oval for the second match of the five.
West Indies know if they don’t win this match they will fall two down with three to play in the series and that is not a position they will want to find themselves in, so there is a lot to play for in both camps in this second ODI.
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West Indies
Given that they have struggled in this format for far too long considering the talent that is available to them, we should take comfort from a much improved effort from West Indies in the opening ODI. That follows on from an impressive display in the Test matches so maybe we are seeing the resurgence of West Indian cricket, which would make the international game a much better place.
While they were better than usual in that first game there is plenty of room for improvement from them too. The first thing they can do better is take their chances, and actually field well in general. They were horrific in the field and that has to be improved. They also need to fare better between the wickets when they bat. Chris Gayle might have splattered England everywhere but he probably surrendered another 25-30 runs in not having the ability to turn ones into twos.
England
When you think how poorly England played in the Test series, they deserve a lot of credit for not being daunted by the size of the task in their run chase in the opening game to run out very comfortable winners. They actually chased the total down even easier than the scorecard highlights as they slowed down a bit towards the end to ensure that Joe Root got a deserved ton.
England also have room for improvement in their performance from that first game. They could do with tightening up a little bit in the outfield and there is a heck of a lot of juice left with the ball. They were pretty ordinary for the first 30 overs or so in the opening match and that will need to be sorted out ahead of the World Cup.
Team News
All eyes will be on Chris Gayle to see if he has pulled up ok after clearly suffering with weariness if not injury after his exploits in the first game. They have to change their bowling attack and Sheldon Cottrell could come in for one of the spinners.
England are also likely to change their bowling attack. There is a belief that Chris Woakes will be managed through this series so he could come out. If he doesn’t then Liam Plunkett might. Whoever makes way you would think Tom Curran is a certainty to come in.
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Betting
I took over 10.5 sixes in the first match and that was covered inside 31 overs. The line has moved up to 14.5 sixes for this match but given that we saw the wicket which will be used in the coverage of the first game and it looks like a similar one to the pitch we saw on Wednesday I’m expecting the big hits to keep flowing. Even if Gayle hadn’t hit a single six, West Indies still hit 11 of them and England never really had to lift their bat up and still walloped six. We saw plenty in that first match to suggest we’ll get 15 more here.
Adil Rashid was my fancy for the bowler of the series for England and he took three in the first game. He would have tied the top bowler with Stokes in that match but Stokes rarely bowls enough to take three wickets very often. If anything I think Rashid will go even better here and at 10/3 he seems a pretty obvious pick to be the leading England bowler, especially with talk that Woakes will be rested.
Tips
WON – Back Over 14.5 sixes for a 5/10 stake at 1.75 with 888sport
Back it here:
DEAD HEAT – Back A.Rashid Top England Bowler for a 2/10 stake at 4.33 with William Hill
Back him here:
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