After a compelling and hugely entertaining T20 series, West Indies and Sri Lanka begin a three match ODI series on Wednesday which could go some way to the destination of both teams with regards to qualifying for the 2023 World Cup or not.
This series goes towards the World Cup Super League from which the eight automatic qualifiers for the 2023 World Cup so although the three matches mean little as a standalone, there is so much on them thinking long-term.
West Indies
This will be just the second ODI series for West Indies since the lockdown began roughly a year ago so they are entitled to need a while to get up to speed with the format. In saying that, this part of the world only recently concluded their regional 50 over tournament so it isn’t like all of the players will be playing blind. West Indies’ other series since lockdown was in Bangladesh but they went there with a weakened squad after the New Zealand tour so we can’t really take a whole lot from that.
One thing we do know from the past is that this is not the strongest format that the West Indies have. They have struggled in it for quite some time, to the extent that they had to go through the qualifying event for the last World Cup, something they will be out to avoid here but really need to find some consistency with the bat and the ball if they are going to achieve that mission. Winning at home and picking up points here will do their quest no harm.
Sri Lanka
This hasn’t been the greatest format for Sri Lanka either in recent times. They didn’t have the great World Cup a couple of years ago and overseas in particular their bowling attack is often found wanting. In the T20 series here earlier in the week it was the batting which didn’t step up to the mark so there are plenty of issues for Sri Lanka to sort out if they are going to avoid having to go through the qualifying event for the next World Cup.
This will be the first ODI series that Sri Lanka have played since the initial lockdown of the sport so they are also entitled to be rusty in the 50 over game. Often when sides are rusty in this format of the game their batting can struggle. They will either go too hard for a score and end up nowhere or they go too slowly at the start of the innings and even a big finish doesn’t get them to where they need to be. When you think that they struggled with the bat in the T20s, something similar would could well happen here.
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Team News
West Indies will be much changed from the T20s with Lendl Simmons, Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo not in the squad for the ODIs. Shai Hope, Darren Bravo and Kyle Mayers are the three men who will replace them. Alzarri Joseph is also expected to start.
Sri Lanka are also likely to be changed from the T20s with reinforcements having arrived in the form of Dimuth Karunaratne and Dasun Shanaka. Akila Dhananjaya was expensive in the last T20 and that might have cost him his spot.
Betting
We’ve moved grounds from the T20s for these ODIs so I’m going to see how the wicket at the Vivian Richards Stadium plays before I get deeply involved in the second and third matches over the weekend but there is a bet I like for this opening game which doesn’t need to matter how the pitch plays because we’ve seen West Indies struggle to play the leg spin of Wanindu Hasaranga in the T20s and I don’t expect much to have changed in a couple of days.
They don’t need to attack him as much as they do in the T20s but at some point they are going to need to look to score off him else they will come up short. He took two wickets or more in all three of those T20 matches and he is 6/4 to pick up more than 1.5 wickets in this match. West Indies are terrible players of spin at the best of times and with three of the top order having not seen him by virtue of not playing in the T20s I think there is score for the attacking leggie to grab a brace of wickets in this one.
Tips
Back W.Hasaranga – Over 1.5 wickets for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with Bet365
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